Liverpool plan summer spending spree for four Prem stars - report

Liverpool are planning a major summer recruitment campaign to get the club back to the top end of the, according to reports in Thursday's papers.

Top of the list for manager Kenny Dalglish and director of footbal Damien Comolli is Aston Villa forward Ashley young, according to The Times.

The Reds are bracing themselves for a battle with Manchester United and Tottenham for Young but Dalglish is determined to bring him to Anfield as he has identified him as the ideal man to provide service for £35m striker Andy Carroll.

Liverpool tried to sign him on transfer deadline day in January - the same day they brought in Carroll and £22m man Luis Suarez - but Villa were unwilling to sell at the time.

But since then Young has made it clear that he will not sign a new contract with Villa so the club will try to cash in on him this summer, rather than risk losing him for nothing the following year.

The paper also claims the Reds will go after Blackpool captain Charlie Adam - another player they tried to recruit in January - as well as Bolton defender Gary Cahill and Wolves winger Matt Jarvis.

Damien Comolli, who has been promoted to director of football hinted yesterday that there will be more arrivals in the close season.

"The owners said from day one they want to improve things and turn things around quickly and I have said the same thing since I arrived, so I expect a busy summer," said the Frenchman, who was appointed by FSG in November while Roy Hodgson was still manager.

"When we prepare for the next season it's difficult to say we work to the January transfer window. We work from summer to summer.

"When the window shuts in September we are preparing for the next summer window, not the one in January because, as people say, usually not much goes on in January.

"We proved that wrong but as soon as it shuts on January 31, we are thinking about the summer and what we are going to do.

"We talk about different targets, about players we thought about in January but couldn't do and keep the scouting team working.

"I think we will have the squad depth next year to compete both in Europe and domestically if we manage to qualify for Europe," he added.