There have been a lot of speculation surrounding his Liverpool players like Luis Suarez and Pepe Reina. Both players have been linked with a move to Spanish football with Real Madrid and Barcelona interested in them respectively. Suarez has apparently grown tired of English football and the way he has been treated since his £ 26 million arrival from Ajax a few years ago. Pepe Reina, on the other hand, is thought to be the replacement for Victor Valdes at Barcelona. Valdes recently confirmed that he will be leaving Barcelona at the end of his contract.
Even though he has 12 months left on his deal, Barcelona are prepared to bring in a replacement now itself. Reina has suffered from a dip in form since the departure of Rafa Benitez, and the reason £ 9 million acquisition of Simon Mignolet also adds doubt into the future of the Spaniard at Anfield. Rodgers, though, dismissed speculation by saying that he has signed Mignolet because he wants to build a very competitive squad that is capable of taking Liverpool where they belong – to the top. He says that the competition between Mignolet and Reina will make Liverpool extremely strong in the goalkeeping department.
The club finished just one place above the eighth place finish they managed under Kenny Dalglish.
“One of the things we’re trying to build is a competitive squad. Our squad was very thin last year. It’s very important we have competition in every position and that wasn’t always the case. Pepe and I went out for a meal a couple of months before the end of the season and I told him exactly what we were going to do, which was to provide real competition in that area,” said Rogers. Liverpool will be playing their first friendly match of the pre-season against Preston.