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"We won't be overly busy in January but some reinforcements will be nice, just the addition of some firepower to help us at the top end of the field," said Brendan Rodgers, once again seeking to temper expectations for the club as Liverpool stumble aimlessly into the new year. "There won't be a great deal of business done, we are probably just trying to get some of the business done which we hoped to do in the summer.
"The budget was going to be tight this year, for a number of reasons, but we will be doing something because it is the need of the group. It is not always about the finance and the affordability of the player—it is about the availability. If it's not the right availability, I won't spend money just for the sake of it."
In theory it seems a sound argument, though it does suggest that those players Rodgers is in for are ones he rates highly enough to be after regardless of budget or availability issues. And even if one considers Daniel Sturridge and Tom Ince interesting options with some potential, that has to be at least a mildly concerning thought.
Almost as concerning are rumours that if he does have a few extra Pounds to throw around, Rodgers could be in for Franco Di Santo—a former Chelsea youth striker now in his third year at Wigan who has failed to do anything of note in his time there. Conversely, it could be that Di Santo is seen as a Plan B in case the Ince deal falls through, though for most that would hardly be any more encouraging.
Still, despite the growing doom and gloom surrounding Liverpool both on the pitch and heading into the January window under Rodgers, the manager insisted that it will all get better in time: "From next season the purse strings should loosen a bit more but in terms of this season it was always on the understanding it was going to be tight in terms of finance."
Right then. Welcome to Liverpool, a club that has been living off a things can always get better next year mantra since the triumvirate of Christian Purslow, Martin Broughton, and current managing director Ian Ayre fired Rafa Benitez in 2010. For now, though, best to temper expectations—or hope Daniel Sturridge turns out to be Liverpool's savior.