Roy Hodgson shows off his summer signings
Liverpool
manager Roy Hodgson has warned players if they have nothing to offer
either the current first team or the future of the club then they
will be shipped out of Anfield.
The 62-year-old has already cut
down on personnel he believes to be surplus to requirements and has
not ruled out further exits in the coming months.
Since taking over from
predecessor Rafael
Benitez, Hodgson has allowed the
likes of Alberto
Aquilani, Emiliano Insua, Albert
Riera, Diego Cavalieri, Philipp
Degen, Nabil El Zhar, Krisztian Nemeth and Damien Plessis to leave, either permanently or on
loan.
Hodgson has, in the meantime,
bolstered the British and home-grown quota at Anfield with the
arrivals of Joe
Cole, Paul Konchesky, Brad
Jones, Danny Wilson, while also signing the proven quality of
Denmark's Christian
Poulsen and
Portugal international Raul Meireles, and the Liverpool boss is keen to see the club
move towards a leaner, more competitive, existence where no-one is
allowed to tread water.
"We were unbelievably over-staffed when I came to the club and,
if the truth be known, we still are over-staffed," said Hodgson.
"It was just as big a job making sure some of the players who never
feature for the first team move on and that we limit our squad to
players who are either in the frame to play first-team football or
who have a bright future who are still anxious to play academy and
reserve team football.
"We don't want that middle group who are too old for reserve
football but are not serving any purpose for the first team because
they never feature."
PA Sport