Sheikh Mohammed will step up his bid to buy Liverpool by using his own money to invest in the club.

The oil-rich Arab leader of Dubai has ditched DIC - the investment arm of his government - as the buy-out company he will use if he gets the chance to purchase the Anfield club from Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Instead, he will dip into his own wealth to get his hands on the Premier League outfit, with insiders suggesting that will allow him to invest far more money into Liverpool.

DIC's charter states the government company must "maximise long-term shareholder value", which in effect means it should turn over a big profit as soon as possible.

But the current financial climate wouldn't allow that with Liverpool, and instead the Arab billionaire is ready to sink his own money into the club to build a new stadium and invest heavily in the team.

Sheikh Mohammed wants to rival the Abu Dhabi owners of Manchester City, and now sees Liverpool less in terms of a pure investment. But despite being among the wealthiest men in the world, he still refuses to pay over the odds to the Americans.

The Mirror understands that Hicks and Gillett are prepared to sell, but only at £300million above the Arab's valuation of around £450million.

Sheikh Mohammed's advisors though, feel that the Americans are in deep trouble because of the global credit crunch, and will be forced to sell unless there is a swift economic upturn.

Find out what our resident Premier League fan bloggers think - and let them know your views

Think you can outwit our Football Pools experts John Barnes, Tony Cascarino and Graham Poll? Then have a crack at the Football Pools

Follow every Premier League game live with our brilliant Match Tracker