På dagens presskonferens inför torsdagens EL-kvalmatch mot Trabzanspor svarade Roy Hodgson på en rad olika frågor rörande de transferspekulationer som jämt och ständigt omger Liverpool.

När Hodgson fick frågan om han är orolig för att tappa Dirk Kuyt till Inter sa han; ”No I’m not, because Dirk has not told me he wants to go and I can only reiterate that we have not received any offer from any club for him.”

Dessutom delade Hodgson ut en känga till Rafa Benitez genom att säga: ”It strikes me there is obviously something going on behind the scenes here and it may be that the agent involved is talking to the manager of Inter Milan. You have to remember that when Rafa Benitez left Liverpool, he signed an agreement that he would not poach any of our players and I think Dirk Kuyt falls into that category. We would not welcome any offer, we have not received one and, at this very late stage of the transfer window, it would be remarkably unusual for us to accept any offer for a player we don’t want to leave. At this juncture, the money would be no use to us because it is far too late to start looking for a replacement. We need the player, not the money, and I would suggest, with respect, that if his agent is serious about trying to move him on, he should have been working on it four or five weeks ago, not in the last three or four days, because we are not even going to entertain the idea so close to the end of August.”

Hodgson fick även en fråga om hur förhandlingarna mellan Liverpool och Barcelona om Javier Masherano går. Då sa han; ”As far as I know there have been no further developments since the last time I spoke to the press. The fact he’s not here is, I guess, because the negotiations are on going between the clubs. If he played here tomorrow it might prejudice the transfer. I don’t wish to do anything like that to the player. I don’t wish to prejudice his transfer by forcing him onto the field in a game which might make it difficult. But I am seriously hoping things will be sorted out in the next couple of days one way or another. I have no idea which way that will be. Going into Sunday’s game (against West Brom), I think I am entitled to have the player available for selection if he is going to continue to be a Liverpool player. Tomorrow night was never a question, but Sunday is very much a question because I think that by Sunday I should know whether he is going to play for Liverpool this season or Barcelona.”

Journalisterna frågade även Hodgson om Liverpool är intresserade av David Trezeguet, Mario Gomez och Carlton Cole, som ju samtliga har ryktats till klubben på sistone. På den frågan svarade Hodgson: ”No. This is the season when names are bandied around and connected with clubs. I’m pretty sure in countries like Germany and Spain, the same names are coming up and being linked with clubs there because that’s the way the system operates. None of those players are likely to be playing for Liverpool this season.”

Däremot bekräftade Hodgson att Liverpool är intresserade av Paul Konchesky; ”We had discussions with Fulham about whether they were prepared to sell any of their players. I’d be lying if I said Paul was not a name we considered. Whether or not there is a chance of business is very much up in the air.”

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Senaste transferrykrena från medierna:

Liverpool är beredda att buda på Paul Konchesky. Fulham är överens med PSV om en deal för Carlos Salcido, som är tänkt att ersätta Konchesky (BBC Sport).

Liverpool och Fulham förhandlar om Paul Konchesky (The Mirror).

Liverpool försöker inte signa Hatem Ben Arfa, trots rapporter om det motsatta i Frankrike (The Daily Mail).

Hatem Ben Arfa är utomlands – men inte i England. Han är i Tyskland för att skriva på för Werder Bremen (RMC).

West Ham är den senaste klubben att visa intresse för David Trezeguet (The Mirror).

Liverpool och Barcelona ser ut att nå en kompromiss som innebär att Javier Mascherano byter klubb för omkring £20 miljoner (The Mirror).