Liverpool's co-owner George Gillett insists he will
sanction the level of spending that boss Rafa Benitez has demanded
- but not for the sake of it.
Reds fans have become frustrated with the club's lack of action in
the transfer market so far this summer.
Gillett told The Times: "I sense that kind of pressure building
from the media - but we are working on things.
"Rafa has a programme under way and, as that unfolds, that will be
the time for us to be judged, not now."
Following Liverpool's defeat by AC Milan in the Champions League on
23 May, Benitez said Liverpool must "spend big and spend now" to
close the gap on Manchester United and Chelsea at the top of the
Premiership.
He has brought in Andrey Voronin on a free transfer from Bayer
Leverkusen and signed Hungarian teenagers Kristian Nemeth and
Andras Simon.
The Reds are also close to wrapping up a £6m deal for Brazilian
midfielder Lucas Leiva.
But the established world-class signings expected by supporters
after the arrival of Gillett and co-owner Tom Hicks have not yet
materialised.
"We're not going to do something just to try to prove something,"
Gillett explained.
"What we've said and what Rafa has said was that we had a programme
and he would share that with us and that we would support it.
"The first part was that we identified a number of our existing
star players (Jose Reina, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Xabi
Alonso) whom Rafa wanted to sign on long-term contracts.
"That was the first step and it has been done. Now we're moving on
to phase two, which is bringing players in."
