A host of Liverpool first team regulars are set to be sold this summer as part of a mass clear-out.
Albert Riera and Ryan Babel, two of the club's most outspoken players last season, head the list of misfits set to be shown the door at Anfield whilst goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri, who recently failed to secure a move to Benfica, and Philipp Degen are also tipped to leave.
Further sales have not been ruled out with Yossi Benayoun's imminent switch to Chelsea expected to be followed by Javier Mascherano's departure to Inter Milan upon his return from World Cup duty with Argentina, subject to successful talks between Inter and Reds chiefs.
Daniel Agger, however, has insisted that he has no intention of leaving the club despite being heavily tipped to join Rafael Benitez in leaving Merseyside this summer in favour of a move to the Serie A champions.
Benitez had earmarked the centre-back for a switch to Italy but Agger, who featured in Denmark's 2-0 defeat to Holland yesterday, has vowed to remain with Liverpool in spite of his former boss's departure but admits that he was shocked at the timing of the announcement.
He said: "I'm a little surprised because I didn't see it coming. Of course there has been a lot of talk about [Benitez leaving] but I didn't see it happening right now.
"The time with him was good. He is a good manager, he knows his stuff and he knows what football is about.
"When I return from my summer holiday, I'll see what is new, but his exit has no bearing on my future. I'm committed to Liverpool."
The appointment of Benitez's successor is no closer to being concluded with Roy Hodgson keen to be offered the job before jetting out to South Africa as a pundit for the BBC's coverage of the World Cup but a formal approach for the 62-year-old has yet to be made.
It is widely believed that the Fulham manager is the leading candidate in the eyes of the Anfield board despite growing popularity for the potential return to the managerial hot seat for Kenny Dalglish, who has made it known that he wishes to be considered for the position.
Many cynics have accused Dalglish of being away from management for far too long, with an ill-fated spell at Celtic alongside his most recent role at the top, but his son Paul, coach of the Tampa Bay Rowdies, believes his involvement with the club's youth set-up to dispel this myth.
Paul, 33, said: "People say he's not been in a job for nine years, 10 years. He's not been in a coma. He's been out of the limelight, not out of the game, he's been managing Liverpool's academy for the last year.
"You see these people in the media, these ex-players who say, 'the game's changed, it's moved on, maybe Kenny's not the right man to do the job, maybe Roy Hodgson is.'
"It's not for me to comment whether Roy Hodgson is better than my dad, I'll only talk about my dad, but I just think it's unfair that if people are going to say that he's been out of the limelight, he's not been in football for nine years so he might not be able to do the job.
"How are these guys in the media, why are they still commentating on the game if they haven't been in the game for nine years?
"My dad's seen exactly the same as these people and my dad's still very much in touch and he's still very much in the game working with the academy last year at Liverpool.
"It's just there's nobody who loves Liverpool Football Club more than my dad that is free and that is as capable of doing the job as my dad."
