Roy Hodgson today confirmed that Diego
Cavalieri looks set to leave Liverpool - but the boss dismissed
speculation that Ryan Babel could move.
Goalkeeper Cavalieri will hold talks with Italian side Cesena
after our Europa League play-off first leg with Trabzonspor.
His likely departure follows the arrival at Anfield this week of
stopper Brad Jones, who was not signed in time to be eligible for
Thursday's Europa League clash.
Hodgson told his pre-match press conference: "Diego has done a
marvellous job for the last three years.
"He's a very good goalkeeper and a very good person, but he made
it clear to me at the start of the season that after three years of
watching Pepe play every week he might, if he's not careful, lose
his goalkeeping ability or his status as a first-team
goalkeeper.
"He made it clear he'd like to leave and find a club where he'll
be able to play on a regular basis, so we set about the task of
finding someone we thought would be as good a complement to Pepe
Reina as Cavalieri has been.
"That's why Brad Jones has come in. He's the man we've chosen to
back up Reina, put him under pressure and, most importantly, be
ready to play.
"Diego will travel to Cesena after the game tomorrow night for a
medical."
The Brazilian's departure would make Jones the recognised
number two to Reina, and he is likely to feature regularly if we
reach the Europa League proper.
Hodgson added: "We aren't in the Europa League group stage yet
but if we were to succeed in doing that there's a chance someone
like Brad will get a game on a reasonably regular basis. That would
give Pepe the chance he needs to rest. But first we need to get
there."
Meanwhile, quizzed on whether rumours linking Babel with a move
to Wolfsburg was accurate, Hodgson said: "No, there's none there.
I'm afraid we're in the realm of speculation. You know better than
I how many stories you're getting every day, and many of them are
unfounded and many are attempts from people to get their players in
the spotlight.
"We've had no written or formal offers for Ryan Babel and he's a
player who I'm expecting to play for us."
With two weeks of the transfer window remaining, the gaffer is
not ruling out more activity - and backed up Christian Purslow's
suggestion that there could be 'one or two' new faces on top of
Jones.
Hodgson said: "The Brad Jones situation has been under control
for some time so I think he was talking about adding one or two
other players to the squad (on top of that).
"We need 25 players in our squad like everyone else. We need the
25 players to play Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and
Carling Cup. Arguably you wish you had a few more.
"Any player that leaves this club will have to be replaced. We
aren't in a situation where we can just let players go without
replacing them. That's if they are in our plans for the 25 man
squad."
Elsewhere, Hodgson was delighted with news that Martin Skrtel
has signed a new contract at Anfield.
He said: "Very good. Everything's looking very positive in that
respect at the moment. I've got a very good squad of players. I was
fearful I'd lose a few but things are looking so much better. I'm
very pleased that the players who've done so well for the club in
the past are still here."