Widespread rumours linking players out of Anfield, constant talk of a need to trim the wage bill, and a lack of any visible movement towards a splashy signing or two on the transfer market has led to increasingly nervous Liverpool fans as a new season inches closer. This growing doubt as fans watch veteran players leave while the club's best are rumoured to be on the verge of following and few reinforcements arrive hasn't been lost on Brendan Rodgers, who admits to being aware of the speculation.
"I've seen hundreds of names linked with Liverpool," said the manager, "and there's very few of them that were even close to coming here or we have even looked at. Obviously when it's a club like Liverpool prices are always increased and so on, but I always felt it was important by the beginning of the season we could have the squad we want—and certainly by the end of the transfer window I would hope that will be the case."
With the Europa League campaign set to kick off on Thursday and the league following in just over two weeks, it is exactly that—the importance of having the squad in place—which has left fans uncertain about the direction of a club that, as it stands, is set to begin the season with its weakest squad since Rafa Benitez left. And though it appears Rodgers' hopes of having that squad in place have been pushed back until the end of the transfer window, it may at least provide some comfort and calm to fans that the manager believes that in the end he'll get the players he needs to make the coming campaign a successful one:
"Unfortunately for the supporters they've got to read [the speculation] and put up with it. But the message is there is a lot of work going on, on a number of deals, and hopefully we can get those completed by the end of August."