Ayre Rubbishes Media Report

Ian Ayre has rubbished a newspaper report claiming Principal Owner John Henry suggested Fenway Sports Group may have overpaid for Liverpool players.

The Reds Managing Director insists Henry's quote was not regarding the club's transfer business and was instead referring to baseball.

Ayre told LFC TV's Friday Night Live: "I have actually seen the transcript. It was John answering questions via email, rather than in an interview. I have seen his comments he replied with.

"What he was essentially talking about in the first place was baseball. He was talking about the comments people have been making about a big signing they (Boston Red Sox) made, Carl Crawford.

"He made the point they may have overspent on players, but at the same time a month or so ago, before the Red Sox got into trouble, people were saying the Red Sox were maybe the best team they've ever had.

"He just drew the comparison, but it wasn't actually related to Liverpool in anyway.

"The other thing that comes out from that, and I was talking to Tom (Werner) about it today, is how do you ever gauge what you've spent on any player until the end of his contract?

"It's a long time playing for a club, and not everything happens on day one. For Carl Crawford or anyone else, it's all about what you get from that player across the life of his contract.

"We've seen players come to football clubs, baseball clubs and other sports clubs and some have a brilliant start and some have a slow start and they're just different. It's all about what you extract as value.

"He definitely didn't relate it to Liverpool. I don't know if it was a mis-quote - I think his quote was right, but it was just taken out of context."