Roy Hodgson insists he will not be rushed into signing players despite Liverpool's unusually early start to the season.
The Reds have already recruited England star Joe Cole and teenage defender Danny Wilson so far during a busy summer, with Milan Jovanovic also arriving on a free from Standard Liege. Any further recruits must be registered today to take part in our Europa League third qualifying round games against Rabotnicki on July 29 and August 5. However, Hodgson has told fans not to expect too much last-minute transfer activity.
"I don't think deadlines are realistic," he said. "It takes time to get the people you want and the most important thing is getting the people you want. If you can do things quickly then that's great because you have them in but if it takes time it takes time. It would be nice to have someone in before the deadline but it's pretty unrealistic and I can't see it happening. We need to strengthen at both ends and we need to have some very good young players that are really worth working with for the future, so we can hopefully start producing a few more Gerrards, Carraghers, Owens and Fowlers. We need to strengthen at the top end as well and someone like Joe Cole is very important in that respect, and I hope he won't be the last one."
Work on other targets continues behind the scenes but in the meantime Hodgson is faced with the dilemma of navigating a European tie with all 13 of his World Cup stars a long way from full fitness.
He said: "These will be two unbelievably difficult games for us at this stage of the season but it really depends where we put the Europa League in the grand scheme of things. If the club puts such emphasis on it and they want all our top players to play, the sports scientists are telling me quite clearly that is not going to help us further down the road. It is a balance that not only I can sort out but it will be a decision for the club to take on."
Rabotnicki earned a glamour tie with the Reds following a 1-0 aggregate win over Mika on Thursday.
The first leg was due to be played at Anfield but the clashes have now been switched after fellow Macedonians FK Teteks also progressed. The change will make top seeds Liverpool even stronger favourites to progress but Hodgson will not be taking anything for granted.
"The sports scientists have a very clear idea of when players come back training after a World Cup and a three-week break. They also have an idea about how much work they need to do physically before you can start throwing them into competitive matches," he said. "They tell me it would be wrong if I look into using these players that early if we want to use them throughout the season. If we don't throw them in then we don't have the players with experience to play the games, so it is a cleft stick at the end of the day. You lose if you don't play them and you lose if you do play them."
