Rodgers Pursuing Other Targets After Sigurdsson Rejection
Brendan Rodgers says the make-up of potential new recruits at Liverpool has to be right
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is looking for the missing piece in his Anfield jigsaw this summer, but insists new recruits must fit the team's blueprint.
Rodgers is yet to make any move in the transfer window since taking over as Kenny Dalglish's replacement earlier this summer.
However, Rodgers has begun to look at specific targets, but has a warning for players who aren't cut out for the demands of playing for Liverpool.
"I've got a bunch of wonderful players here," he told the club's official website. "I'm going to take time to have a look at that.
"I believe there's one or two areas that I'll need to improve on for sure, but overall the core of the group is strong.
"But like any manager, you want to add the other pieces that can complete your jigsaw and that's something that we're doing over a period of time.
"This window for the summer, you either had to get your business in early or it was going to run over towards the end of the window, just purely because of all the games and holidays and championships, and everything that was going on.
"We're doing a lot of work off the field in terms of potential players to come in, but it will only be a certain type of player that will fit the model here at Liverpool."
The Reds boss has already missed out on the signing of Gylfi Sigurdsson, who after spending a successful loan spell with Rodgers at Swansea City last season, opted to move to Tottenham Hotspur following the appointment of Andre Villas-Boas as head coach, instead of a switch to Merseyside.
Sigurdsson showed himself to be up to the demands of the Premier League during his six-month spell at the Liberty Stadium, as The Swans finished in mid-table.
And his former boss Rodgers is refusing to downhearted, and says he has other targets in mind.
"He wasn't playing at Hoffenheim, I brought him to Swansea and he did very well for me there," he added. "He scored seven goals in 19 games and was very, very good.
"He and I both sat and spoke and believed that playing football was going to be the most important aspect for him. But obviously it was important financially so we agreed a deal for him to go to Swansea and that was wrapped up.
"I then became the Liverpool manager, and that then wasn't something that was going to happen at Swansea. So he then had a choice of where he wanted to go. I knew what the market was and I wasn't prepared to pay anything over what I had known was agreed before.
"Liverpool would have provided Gylfi with a wonderful opportunity to perform with a manager that he knows and at a club which is a real footballing institution.
"But he's decided to go to Tottenham, for whatever reason. I wish him the best, he's a good kid and there's no ill feeling. We've got other targets and we'll move on."
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.