Liverpool owner John W Henry concedes no player will be kept at
Liverpool against their will - but has expressed his surprise at
the relative lack of worth of contracts in English football.
''It is a completely different system here to what we are used
to. If a player has a contract in the United States they fulfil the
contract,'' he said. ''Over here, it seems players have much more
say-so about where they are.
''Frankly, we don't want a player at the club who doesn't want
to be at the club. It's really up to us to provide the kind of
leadership, on and off the field, that any player at the club or
who is coming to the club wants to be here.''
Nonetheless, he said of the key trio: ''I was upset about the
assertion that they were leaving. There was one day when I read
reports that we were not going to be involved in the transfer
window because we do not have the funds. The next day I read that
Torres and Reina were leaving.
''I have spoken with a number of our top players and was really
heartened by the response. I was heartened by the intelligence of
these players, who understand more about Liverpool than we do. They
were good discussions.''