Rafa in for Rafa

Liverpool have made the opening moves in a bid to sign Rafael van der Vaart from Real Madrid.

Anfield officials met with their counterparts from the Bernabeu in Madrid before Thursday night's Europa League semi-final against Atletico.

Holland midfielder van der Vaart has found himself out in the cold in Spain and would be available for about £7million.

Talks were only at a preliminary stage, but if the price is right Liverpool will move in the summer, before the World Cup gets under way.

Inquiries were also made about the former Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra, but while Madrid have maintained an interest in Steven Gerrard for some time, that subject was not on the agenda.

Madrid tried to sell van der Vaart last summer, but when no deal materialised he was initially left out of the squad when the season started, and was not even allocated a shirt number.

But he has slowly turned things around, and since January has come back into the picture at the Bernabeu, scoring two crucial goals for the club in the past fortnight.

But Real are still prepared to sell the 27-year-old, who Liverpool see as a useful addition to their squad, given he can play in central midfield or on either flank as a wide midfielder.

Van der Vaart has been linked with Arsenal and Chelsea in the past, but Liverpool hope they can begin formal talks about signing the player before preparations for the World Cup start.

Diarra would be an interesting target for Anfield boss Rafael Benitez, who wants to strengthen his midfield by adding a holding player to allow Lucas more freedom to go forward.

But the price would be prohibitive unless Real were to substantially drop their valuation, given they - apparently - paid Portsmouth £20million for Diarra just 18 months ago.

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