Brendan Rodgers promises prudence at Liverpool

Successive Liverpool managers have paid excessive fees and wages for under-performing players. That is having an impact on what Rodgers can afford this summer.

Although he has signed Fabio Borini and Joe Allen for a combined cost of £26 million, and hopes to add more players before the end of the month, it is a contrast to the £100 million spent on six new faces a year ago.

Rodgers knew the reality prior to accepting the job, and believes he has a duty to limit his targets to those who are attracted to Liverpool by a desire to improve rather than enticed by a huge pay packet.

The Northern Irishman was true to his philosophy last month when he pulled out of negotiations for Gylfi Sigurdsson because Tottenham offered a salary of £30,000 a week more than Liverpool.

“You have to spend money but not throw it around,” explained Rodgers. “In professional and social life, I like to get value. That is just my nature and my upbringing. I won’t pay anything at all costs, absolutely not.

“There have to be certain factors to make a player want to come and play for you. Unfortunately for people, money distorts the reality.

“I prefer the hungry player and those that want to succeed. Of course they will earn good money – and they will get their value and worth if they perform. I also understand that it is about two things for some players – game time and money.

“Signing for Liverpool should be the beginning. If you look at the history of the club, it is about hungry players, coming in from the lower leagues, from clubs in Scotland and Ireland, and working their way up.

“Talent aligned with hard work takes you a long way. I just want to maintain that spirit within the club.”

Liverpool’s financial difficulties prior to the takeover of Fenway Sports Group in 2010 almost led to administration. FSG have consistently stated they want self-sufficiency, avoiding borrowing cash to fund transfers.

Ploughing millions of their private wealth into the club to buy players – as some fans crave – would be hypocritical given the ownership’s stance on Financial Fair Play.

“You may think it [administration] will never happen to your club but who would have ever thought that could happen to a team like Glasgow Rangers?” said Rodgers.

“Listen, if football continues to pay the wages that some clubs do, then you will be asking for it.

“I know where I stand. The owners will turn out to be, I believe, great for Liverpool. They will look to put the club on an even keel, get it stable and then let it grow. I won’t have the money that a lot of the clubs might have but it is hard to put a figure on what you need.

"It is about quality. I had a team last year that was worth about £17 million – and we were the talk of Europe.

“I knew I wasn’t going to have a lot of money. To compete straight away and affect it immediately you would have to spend millions upon millions and the club are not going to do that at this stage.

“The problem sometimes is there’s a snobbery towards players at a lesser club. It’s ignorance. You get scouts at a big club who see a young player and think maybe he can’t play. Then he will go to a big club and all of a sudden then they want him. It’s about making those decisions earlier.

"When you’re not in the Champions League there is a restriction in terms of what you can spend and I know that.”