The size of the rebuilding job that Kenny Dalglish faces has become yet more apparent as the Liverpool squad get ready to return to pre-season training with only a single recruit among their ranks, but several players who are surplus to requirements.
Dalglish had hoped to welcome a batch of new players to the club’s Melwood training ground but only Jordan Henderson, the £16 million signing from Sunderland, has arrived.
Moves for Stewart Downing, the Aston Villa winger, and Charlie Adam, the Blackpool midfield player, remain in the pipeline but are no nearer to completion, although Liverpool are in regular contact with both clubs.
Before the end of last season, Dalglish said that the weeks leading up to pre-season would be “very important” to his squad-rebuilding plans as he looked to do the “good business” that he felt was necessary to give Liverpool the best possible chance of regaining a place in the top four of the Barclays Premier League.
But having been outbid for Connor Wickham by Sunderland, outmuscled by Manchester City for Gaël Clichy and beaten to Phil Jones by Manchester United, Dalglish is having to reassess his options with less than six weeks to go before the resumption of the Premier League.
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The determination of John W. Henry, the club’s principal owner, to adhere to the principles of the Financial Fair Play rules means that Dalglish does not have significant transfer funds to fall back on, making it all the more essential that Liverpool shift at least some of the deadwood from a squad that has fallen short of expectations in the past two seasons.
The problem is that those players available for transfer are attracting little interest, and Alberto Aquilani, Philipp Degen, Nabil El Zhar, Emiliano Insúa, Paul Konchesky and Brad Jones, who were out on loan last season, will return to training today.
Aquilani, who was signed from Roma for a fee in the region of £17 million in July 2009, had been hoping to turn a one-year loan deal at Juventus into a permanent transfer but the Serie A club have shown no interest in signing the Italy midfield player on his existing wages.
Liverpool have moved swiftly to replace Sammy Lee, who lost his job as assistant manager last week: Kevin Keen will leave West Ham United to become first-team coach at Anfield. Keen’s appointment on a three-year deal is likely to result in Steve Clarke assuming the post that Lee vacated.
“I’m delighted that Kevin is joining us to work alongside Steve Clarke coaching the first-team squad,” Dalglish said. “He is highly respected in the game and will be a great addition to our technical staff.”
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The manager added that Steven Gerrard is making good progress from a groin operation that led to him missing the final three months of last season. “He deserves a bit of luck on the injury front,” Dalglish said.