Why regaining the title of leading club in England means nothing to Liverpool's American owners

By Richard Buxton in Liverpool Fans Blog

Published 16:08 06/01/10

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Heavy snowfall ground many UK cities to a halt this week and delayed transfer negotiations which could see the January window extended to make up for downtime.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is aiming to recoup £16m in player sales but, despite his reputation as a wizard in the transfer market, the Spaniard will only have £1.5m of that to spend as owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks attempt to reduce the level of debt in which the club currently finds itself.

The imminent transfer of the Atletico Madrid ace Maxi Rodriguez and reports of Marouane Chamakh entering into pre-contract talks ahead of his current deal with Bordeaux expiring in the summer are a very faint silver lining on the dark cloud that currently looms over Anfield.

The likes of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Emile Heskey, John Carew, Ezequial Lavezzi and even Kevin Davies (yes, you heard right) have been linked with moves to the red half of Merseyside in recent months, however Benitez has been ordered by Anfield chiefs to secure loan signings with the Rodriguez transfer eating up his entire budget for the current window.

The knee-jerking amongst Benitez’s detractors will accuse him of not investing in the market with the cold hard facts blinkered by ranting phone-in hosts and faceless pseudonyms on message boards calling for his head.

Andrea Dossena, Andriy Voronin, Philipp Degen and Ryan Babel are all expected to leave Anfield for pastures new before the end of the month, with only the latter set to be sold for more than he originally cost.

The frustrating winger set Liverpool back £11.5m in the summer of 2007 and will only be allowed to leave if his current asking price of £12m is met. Weather permitting, Dossena will join Napoli in the next 48 hours for £4.5m - a loss of £2.5m on his original transfer from Udinese 18 months ago.

Voronin and Degen, the final pair of the out-of-favour quartet, are expected to fetch between £1.5m and £2m each. Recouping £4m for two free transfers is not a bad piece of business you might think. In fact, the estimated fees for the duo would break even the £2m signing on fees they received when they arrived at the club in the summers of 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Olympiakos have targeted the midfield duo of Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera but it is believed that only the latter will be allowed to leave, such is the impact of the former when he has featured in the current dwindling campaign.

The age-old mantra that Liverpool Football Club exists to win trophies appears to be lost on Gillett and Hicks in light of the current financial mire. It appears that regaining the club's stature as the leading football club in England and on the continent means very little to the Americans compared to clearing the insurmountable debts they placed on the club almost two years ago and building a 60,000-seater stadium, which they hope will seal their Anfield legacy.

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