Kenny Dalglish wants Jordan Henderson to be the new, young English face of Liverpool.
Liverpool's £13million offer for Henderson underlines the shift in transfer policy at Anfield towards buying young and buying British.
Fenway Sports Group were shocked by the Reds' bloated wage bill when they took over last autumn and the Americans felt the squad was carrying too much dead wood.
They do not want any more expensive mistakes like Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic and Christian Poulsen and have told Dalglish and director of football Damien Comolli to target young British talent.
This new emphasis was behind their willingness to sanction the blockbusting £35million move for Andy Carroll in January and the striker perfectly fitted their new profile, being 22 and English.
Henderson, 20, also ticks all the boxes for the Americans and Liverpool believe they can do a deal for the England midfielder below Sunderland's £20m asking price.
Sunderland's valuation highlights the one big problem of buying British - home-grown players are always marked up by the selling clubs.
Ironically, Liverpool's £35m payment to Newcastle for Carroll fuelled the price inflation of British players and £20m now seems to be the starting point for any up-and-coming talent, be it Henderson or Jack Rodwell of Everton.
Liverpool are undeterred and Henderson is understood to be keen on a move to Anfield, while Steve Bruce has lined up Manchester United's Darron Gibson to bolster his midfield numbers at the Stadium of Light.
The Reds are determined to stick to their new age policy - despite high transfer fees - and it is no coincidence that out of all the players they are eyeing up this summer, Stewart Downing is the oldest at 26.
Ashley Young, Sylvain Marveaux, Charlie Adam, Jose Enrique and Emiliano Izaguirre are 25, while James McCarthy is just 20.
Fenway Sports want to get away from signing older players from overseas who just seem to see a move to Liverpool as securing their pension. They only want young, hungry players with a resale value.
That view will only be strengthened at the end of this month when the club pay Roma the £4.4m final instalment for Kop flop Alberto Aquilani.
Rafa Benitez's most expensive gaffe will have cost the Reds £17.6m, meaning his 28 appearances will have stung them to the tune of £630,000 per game.
This does not include his £80,000-a-week wages, which Liverpool have started paying again since his loan spell at Juventus officially ended on Tuesday.
The Reds are keen to cut their losses on Aquilani and had hoped Juve would exercise the clause in his loan agreement to sign him permanently for £14million last month.
Instead, the Italians let that deadline pass and have told Liverpool they are only prepared to offer £6m for Aquilani, even though he still has three years left on his Anfield deal.
The Turin club are trying to drive a hard bargain as they feel Liverpool are in a weak bargaining position because they do not want Aquilani back at the club.
Aqulani's agent, Franco Zavaglia, is hopeful a compromise deal can be reached and also claims AC Milan are also keen on the Italy midfielder.
"All season, Juventus have always given me the necessary guarantees that they want to keep Alberto," he said.
"The next 24 hours will be decisive. Any eventual economic agreements will follow after Juventus make their decision.
"If Juventus can't do a deal for Alberto and he has to return to Liverpool, then Milan would certainly be a destination that he would accept."
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