Roy Unsure Of Getting January Transfer Money

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson
does not know what budget will
be available to him in January
despite making a profit on the
club's summer transfers.
The 62-year-old was roughly
£8million in profit thanks mainly
to the £20million deal which took
Javier Mascherano to Barcelona.
He had hoped to use the surplus
to bring in a striker but with
Mascherano's move to the
Spanish champions not being
completed until a couple of days
before the deadline there was
not the time.
With the club still up for sale and
uncertainty surrounding what
might happen early next month
when owners Tom Hicks and
George Gillett have to refinance
or repay their £237million-plus
loan to the Royal Bank of
Scotland Hodgson does not
know whether that money will
still be available in four months.
Asked whether he would still be
able to spend the money which
he did not use in August the
Liverpool manager said: 'I would
hope so but I don't know. I don't
know what funds I have for
January.
'I don't know quite how much
[was available in August] - but
with the limited amount of time
at our disposal and the very
limited market it wouldn't have
been possible for me to find the
striker I wanted anyway.
'The situation with the club's
funds is extremely complicated
and it would be very foolish for
me to start making statements
on that front.
'Perhaps by January the club will
be under new ownership and I'll
have to see what the new
ownership has in mind.'
Hodgson knows the squad still
needs improvement despite
making strides in the summer
but admits he has had to tailor
his transfer dealings to solve
specific problems rather than
being able to strengthen across
the board.
By bringing in the likes of Joe
Cole, Paul Konchesky and Danny
Wilson he boosted the English/
home-grown quota while
Denmark international Christian
Poulsen and Portugal's Raul
Meireles were brought in to fill
holes left by Mascherano and
Alberto Aquilani, now on loan at
Juventus.
All the new arrivals are set to be
included in the squad for
tomorrow's match at
Birmingham.
'[Buying] home-grown is nice
and we have to think more about
it because of the new rules that
came into effect on September 2
with the 25-man squad,' said the
Reds boss.
'If you want to get the full benefit
of your squad you have to fill
your quota of eight, if you're
talking about seniors.
'What is important when you are
looking to bring in very high-
profile players is realising there is
a definite place for them in the
team and they are not going to
clash with another high-profile
player.
'Otherwise you find yourself
having two wonderful players
but you can't find a place for
them in your team because they
clash.
'With Joe we knew what we
were getting and where we
were going to use him and we
knew exactly the jobs Poulsen
and Konchesky were going to fill.
'The same goes for Meireles who,
alongside Poulsen, is one of the
midfield players replacing
Mascherano and Aquilani.
'Cole, Poulsen, Meireles and
Konchesky: each of those players
fit very much into the profile of
what we were looking for at the
club.
'We thought we needed that type
of player in that position and I
am very pleased to welcome
those.
'In our ideal world we may have
had one or two other positions
pencilled in to improve our
squad but I am still pretty
satisfied with the ones we got.'