From Dave Maddock's column
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/David-Maddock-on-Liverpool-Joe-Cole-Alberto-Aquilani-Maxi-Rodriguez-Cristian-Poulsen-Philipp-Degen-and-the-unlucky-13-costing-30m-a-year-that-Kenny-Dalglish-must-somehow-ship-out-before-buying-article746963.html
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/David-Maddock-on-Liverpool-Joe-Cole-Alberto-Aquilani-Maxi-Rodriguez-Cristian-Poulsen-Philipp-Degen-and-the-unlucky-13-costing-30m-a-year-that-Kenny-Dalglish-must-somehow-ship-out-before-buying-article746963.html
Kenny Dalglish's summer spending spree will hinge on his ability to cut some serious dead wood at Anfield.
The Liverpool manager is hoping to bring in four or five new faces during the transfer window, at a cost of £50million-plus.
But while the Reds' American owners have sanctioned a bold move by the club in the market in a serious attempt to gatecrash the Premier League top four next season, they have also made clear the axe must be taken to a top-heavy squad.
Dalglish has as many as 13 players who are surplus to requirements at Anfield... at a staggering cost of more than £600,000 a week in wages.
That equates to more than £30m a year being paid to players who were either out on loan last season, or cast to the furthest fringes of the first team squad with barely a hope of seeing some action.
Principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner have already expressed their incredulity at the obscene level of wages paid to players such as Milan Jovanovic and Joe Cole, who were barely able to the make the match day squad last season.
That pair alone command more than £200,000 a week in wages, and with fringe player Maxi Rodriguez - who will be surplus to requirements when Stewart Downing arrives this summer - also on wages thought to be around £100,000 a week, it means huge sums were spent on three players who were brought in on free transfers.
But it gets worse for Dalglish...
He must also try to persuade more than six players who were sent out on loan last season to leave the club - and their massive wages - behind.
Chief among those is Alberto Aquilani, who arrived two summers ago in a much-trumpeted deal from Roma, but failed spectacularly to justify wages of more than £80,000 a week.
Aquilani has just spent the entire season on loan at Juventus, but the Italian club are baulking at paying his massive salary - and even a fraction of the £20million fee he cost Liverpool.
Another free-transfer signing who consequently commanded big wages was Philipp Degen, who will arrive back at Anfield this summer after a year on loan at Stuttgart.
Nabil El Zhar and Emilano Insua are two more from the Rafa Benitez era who were farmed out on loan last season, but there is more recent dead wood than that duo, with some of Roy Hodgson's more disastrous signings also banished from Anfield.
Paul Konchesky and Brad Jones will be sold this summer, if Dalglish can find buyers, but again their inflated Premier League wages will be a problem as he looks to offload.
The Reds boss also wants to rid himself of the injury-prone duo of Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio, neither of whom made any serious contribution to the Liverpool squad last season because of their frailty.
With the club looking to sell striker David Ngog and midfielder Christian Poulsen - who again disappeared from view after arriving in the summer of 2010 - it means Dalglish has a major headache as he looks to strengthen his squad in the summer.
If he can rid himself of the unlucky 13 then he will free up massive funds in wages alone... and also raise perhaps £25m to spend on targets including Downing, Scotland international Charlie Adam, Birmingham's Scott Dann and Ipswich wonder-kid striker Connor Wickham.
He has already captured England international Jordan Henderson from Sunderland for £20m and unsuccessfully bid in excess of that for Blackburn's Phil Jones, so the canny Scot knows he will need to work as effectively in the sales department as the purchasing side if he is to enjoy a successful summer.
So far, there have been few nibbles relating to the 13 players in the shop window, with only Ngog the subject of any bid, from Sunderland, although Agger has attracted some clubs in Spain and Italy and Aurelio could move back to Brazil.
Cole is interesting Tottenham, and Poulsen could move back to his native Denmark, while the Reds are feverishly working to make the loan deals for Aquilani, Degan, El Zhar, Jones, Konchesky and Insua permanent.
Jovanovic is the biggest headache.
His massive salary will not be matched by any club, and it will require a big payment just to get him off the wage bill.
Maxi too, will not find a club at his current wages, but Liverpool will look to sell because they can't justify such a massive salary for a player who will now be a squad member at best.
Dalglish, of course, is not to blame for the current problems at Anfield, but it has fallen to him to sort out the massive headache caused by the distinctly un-Liverpool like situation of having three managers in six months.
There is a silver-lining, though.
If he can ship out the majority of the unlucky 13, Dalglish knows he will have the transfer funds - and, crucially, the wages - to attract some of the exciting young talent he sees as the future of the club alongside his signings, Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez and Henderson.