Hodgson to buy big but won't be held to ransom

Roy Hodgson today stated his intention to improve Liverpool’s squad in the winter transfer window – but warned prospective sellers he will not be held to ransom.

Having held discussions with Liverpool's new owners about future plans, including player recruitment, Hodgson is confident he will be able to inject quality into the ranks in January.

Finding a new striker and a wide midfielder remain the manager's priorities and there is little doubt New England Sports Ventures will offer him every assistance.

Hodgson, whose side face Bolton on Sunday, has run the rule over Standard Liege's Steven Defour, Ibrahim Afellay of PSV Eindhoven and Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez.

Improving Liverpool's squad will not be done quickly, nor will it be done on the cheap, but Hodgson has made it clear he will not embark on a spending spree for the sake of it. "We should not be shopping in the bargain basement and quality costs," said Hodgson.

"If we want the right quality, we have got to be prepared to pay the right price.

"The owners know that perfectly well. We have got to make certain that if we go out and spend £20m, we are getting a £20m player.

"We want to be attracting the players that Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter are chasing. It would be nice to think that we can shop at a high level.

"I'm like all managers in that I'm wary of the January transfer window. I think it can be dangerous as clubs try to correct mistakes.

"But, having said that, we are going to very interested about trying to improve our squad in January.

"There is no question about that. I am sure we will sign players. What I would hope to do is get this group of players playing well enough so we don't need to panic.

"Then I can say to the owners, if we are going to spend a lot of money let's get the right man.

"I don't want to spend half the money that might be available on someone for the sake of buying when the player we actually want might not be available until the summer.

"The lucky thing is that we are rebuilding around several top class players. We have got Reina, Carragher, Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt - it's not as if we are rebuilding from nothing."

Hodgson, though, believes he has a duty to spend whatever money is given to him as carefully as his own and he doesn't want to make the squad top heavy with players who are not good enough.

"I think you can pay an awful lot of money for poor players and you can pay not very much money for very good ones - it is all to do with how good your scouting and your eye is," he said.

"There are a lot of things here that the club has got to get right. We have got a lot more expensive failures on our list than good players that we have brought in for next to nothing.

"Free transfers don't necessarily mean that you have got a bargain. My experience of them has been very mixed. You need to be sure that the player you get can do the job you want from him."

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.