Five Reds to leave?

Liverpool are reportedly ready to listen to offers for Maxi Rodriguez, Alberto Aquilani, Raul Meireles and Joe Cole.

The four players could combine to line up in a quite competent midfield, but none of them are first choice at Anfield, and Kenny Dalglish is willing to sell any of them if a decent bid comes in.

Each receives high wages that Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group would be keen to cut from the bill - with Rodriguez, Cole and wantaway Belgian winger Milan Jovanovic on £100,000 per week according to the Guardian.

Story originated on Fantatix.

Clearly the arrival of midfielders Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson and winger Stewart Downing will leave many at Anfield wondering where they fit into Kenny Dalglish's plans. There will also be a need for the Liverpool boss to balance the books having spent over £100m on new players in 2011 as well as addressing the size of the current first team squad that currently numbers almost 40, when you factor in the youth team and reserve team players who are on the periphery.

Of the five names mentioned perhaps the most likely to leave the club is Serbian Milan Jovanovic who has been used primarily on the left side of the midfield, he was said to be heading for Anderlecht but reports today suggest that the former Standard Liege man could instead be on his way to Saudi Arabia club Al-Shabab Riyadh.

Alberto Aquilani has impressed in pre-season and one of the club's owners Tom Henry has publicly stated his admiration of the Italian, however the former Roma man would still appear to be only a back up for Dalglish's first team and the 27 year old still wishes to return to Serie A after a successful loan stint at Juventus. The Merseyside club will sell the talented midfielder the moment a club meets their valuation.

Maxi Rodriguez has spoken of his desire to return to his native Argentina and though the former Atletico Madrid man performed well at the end of the last campaign, Dalglish appears ready to let the wide midfielder leave now that Downing has arrived at the club.

Joe Cole has barely featured in the Liverpool side since Kenny Dalglish replaced Roy Hodgson and there has been reported interest from the likes of QPR and West Ham and the former Chelsea man is very much available for transfer so that the club can remove his large wage salary from the books.

Perhaps the most surprising addition to the list noted in this source is Portuguese playmaker Raul Meireles, considered a potential replacement for Xabi Alonso, a player Liverpool greatly miss. The former FC Porto man had an average start to last term but then had a big upsurge in form at the turn of the year and was arguably one of the player's of the season, so news that Dalglish would sell the player is something of a surprise.

Fiorentina and Inter Milan are both said to be monitoring the situation and could make a move for the £15m rated midfielder.

Source: www.caughtoffside.com

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