According to Rick Parry, Liverpool are still working hard to get more new faces into the Liverpool squad for the new season. The Reds are certainly getting closer to making Kuyt a Red, with indications that the deal could be completed by the end of this week, but Parry says there’s still work being done on others too, which could include some players leaving. And there seems to be a hint in there that like Liverpool did with Alves, they’ll switch their attentions elsewhere if clubs are too difficult to deal with.
Speaking to the BBC’s Radio Five Live, Parry said: “There might be a little bit of business still to be done, we are still looking. We might need to get one or two out, it depends exactly on what is available, but we are open-minded.”
He was also pleased with captain Steven Gerrard’s statement that he’d like to be the Reds’ manager one day: “We have made the point we would like Steven to be with us forever, we know his love for the club is pretty deep so the fact he is saying he wants to be with us long term is the sort of news all our supporters want to hear. And the fact the motivation and commitment is there is the main message.”
Two signings that have been successfully completed this summer were for Blackburn’s Craig Bellamy and Jermaine Pennant from Birmingham. Asked if he felt it was a worry to sign two players linked with controversy in the past, Parry explained he had the utmost faith in Rafa Benitez’s judgement: “Knowing how thorough Rafa is and how conscientious he is, he has been in the Premier League for two years now and has got to know the players better, he would not come to decisions unless he felt confident they were the right players for us. And we are delighted with the acquisitions we have made this time, they have got tremendous pace.”
As Parry says, the position Pennant plays in has been the position Rafa has found it hardest to fill: “After a couple of years we have at last got the player on the right flank that has been a challenge for us, so we’re delighted to have Jermaine Pennant in, and we are looking forward to the start of the season.”