That means the Mersey misfits pocketing the same as the yearly
payments on the club's debt in the dark days of Tom Hicks and
George Gillett.
Kop flops like Milan Jovanovic and Joe Cole alone trousered
around £12m between them in a disastrous debut season at
Anfield.
The Reds are keen to offload a dozen players who have no chance
of action in Kenny Dalglish's Anfield revolution.
Yet with many sitting on sky-high contracts signed under the old
regime, moving them on is proving a huge headache. And that has
left Kop bosses staring at the prospect of forking out £600,000 a
week plus on what is effectively deadwood.
Top earner amongst those unwanted men is Serb Jovanovic,
pocketing half a million each month under the terms of his free
transfer arrival from Standard Liege.
Midfielder Cole is not far behind, on £110,000 a week, yet
neither man went close to holding down a regular place.
Jovanovic made just five league starts last season, costing the
Reds £1.2m a game.
Christian Poulsen arrived from Juventus touted as one of the
great contemporary Danish stars, yet kicked off only nine times in
the league - around £300,000 a match.
The problems hit Liverpool full in the face a week ago when
Anderlecht and Bruges - both keen on Jovanovic - did a swift U-turn
on learning the size of his wage packet.
And if relegation did not shatter any hopes West Ham had of
taking Cole back to Upton Park, the size of his salary certainly
did.
If that is not bad enough, Liverpool's training ground will be
flooded with returning loan "stars" next month, if they fail to
find takers.
Italian Alberto Aquilani spent last season at Juventus but
neither they or Milan will pay the asking price for a man who cost
£20m two years ago.
Aquilani featured twice for Liverpool before being packed off to
Turin and his nine league starts have cost nearly half a million
each. Paul Konchesky made 15 league starts but lasted just six
months before he was loaned to Nottingham Forest.
Others returning are Moroccan Nabil El Zhar, who was at PAOK
Salonika last term, and Swiss full back Philipp Degen, who was with
Stuttgart.
It is a harsh reality check for fans convinced King Kenny will
be leading them to a serious title challenge next season.
American owners the Fenway Sports Group have so far been true to
their word and backed Dalglish's plans with hard cash - as in the
£20m they paid for Jordan Henderson.
Others set to follow are Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam, Connor
Wickham and Gael Clichy.
But one thing is for certain, any return to the glory days under
Dalglish will not be on the cheap.
