Reina Wants Out Of Anfield

Pepe Reina has told Roy Hodgson he wants to leave Liverpool - possibly as early as January.

Mirror Sport has reported that Manchester United, Arsenal and Inter Milan are interested in the goalkeeper and now he has made it clear to Hodgson and the Liverpool board he wants to go.

Hodgson has tried to persuade the keeper who has a £20 million buy-out clause in his contract to stay, but is now looking at possible replacements.

Top of his list are Germany international stopper Manuel Neuer, and Ajax number one Maarten Stekelenburg, who was the Holland keeper in the World Cup final.

Neuer is widely regarded as one of the best young keepers in Europe after helping steer his country to third place in the World Cup during the summer.

He was the keeper who helped con referee Jorge Larrionda that Frank Lampard’s shot had not crossed the line, during the now infamous showdown with England during the tournament in South Africa.

The keeper has little more than a year left on his current contract with his German club Schalke 04, and has already interested Bayern Munich, but it is thought he would like a move abroad.

He fits the bill perfectly for Liverpool. Anfield’s new owners NESV are keen subscribers to a more radical approach to recruitment, where they invest big money in key players who make a real difference.

They want young promising talent with a potential sell on value and the capacity to improve. They also want to pay high wages only to a handful of stars, with more reasonable salaries given to the rest of the squad.

Reina currently commands a salary of almost £100,000 a week, over the course of a contract which has four and a half years left to run. He is 28, and if Liverpool are to get money back on him, would have to sell now.

It is unlikely a bid at such a massive price - which would then invoke the clause in Reina’s contract - will materialize in January, but even if he has to wait until the summer, it seems clear the Spanish keeper will force a move away from Anfield.

He has become more distracted with life at Anfield and less satisfied in recent months.

If the Reds could fetch £20million for him, and replace him with a younger player of an almost equal level and on a third of the salary, it would offer a real bonus to the new owners, who would then be able to invest any profits in signing the top stars they feel Liverpool need in key positions.

Neuer’s fee would be only around the £7million mark, and perhaps even lower because of his contract situation, and that would leave the owners with funds to invest in the transfer market.