LiverpooL Can Have Heinze

Argentina's Copa America finalist Gabriel Heinze will be allowed to leave Manchester United for Liverpool this summer - provided the Merseysiders meet United's asking price of £6 million.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports earlier this week: "Gaby's agent has advised us that he wants to move on.

“I am not too sure about that and we do not have a concrete offer from any particular club. But there is some momentum regarding the player's next move in terms of through his agent, even if nothing is close at this moment in time.”

Liverpool have expressed a definite interest, although manager Rafael Benitez, aware that no player has moved directly between the bitter rivals since 1964, when Phil Chisnall left Old Trafford for a brief, ill-starred spell at Anfield, has been concerned that United might block such an emotive transfer.

However, The Sun reports that Heinze has been told by United chiefs that he can join any club he wishes - as long as they come up with the required fee.

Ferguson has already spent £50 million on new talent this summer, and plans to splash out almost half as much again to bring Heinze's compatriot Carlos Tevez to Old Trafford.

The manager will be expected to recoup some of that outlay, and selling Heinze would help, after Kieran Richardson's move to Sunderland yesterday brought some £5.5 million back into the Old Trafford coffers.

My comment: Since Benitez is so eager to sign Heinze, there must be something up his sleeves, knowing the 'Master Of Tactician'. Maybe Benitez would use Heinze to compensate for the loss of Aurelio.

Rafa Raves Over Attacking Options

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has expressed his delight after watching four of his new attacking recruits in action on Tuesday night.

The Anfield boss handed Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun their debuts in Tuesday's 3-2 friendly win over Werder Bremen, but it was Andrei Voronin who stole the show.

The Ukrainian striker netted his first goal for the club, after signing on a free transfer from Bayer Leverkusen, after just four minutes and he helped himself to another in the second half.

John Arne Riise was also on target for the Reds, but Benitez was full of praise for his summer squad additions and the attacking dimension they have brought to Liverpool.

"I was pleased to see us score three goals and it was nice for Torres, Benayoun and Babel to play their first game for us," Benitez said.

"You can see the different options we have now in attack. It was good for the supporters to see us attacking and playing some good football.

"It was not so good for me as a manger to see us conceding goals but there were many positives."

Meanwhile, Benitez has decided he will be allowing Javier Mascherano additional time off before the new season.

The Argentine midfielder has only recently finished participating in the Copa America and Benitez has said he will excuse the 23-year-old from Liverpool's forthcoming tour of the Far East.

"Mascherano will have 10 days off but, when he returns, he will stay at Melwood with the reserves," Benitez said.

"There would be too much travelling for him to come with us to Hong Kong, we don't want to kill the player before the start of the season."

Mascherano is expected to return to action in the friendly with Shanghai Shenhua in Rotterdam on August 3, eight days before Liverpool kick off their Premier League campaign away at Aston Villa.

Personal comment: It seems like Liverpool has started to score goals after all.....hopefully new boy Torres will get his name on the scoresheet soon. However, I do hope that they keep their defence in-tact as well.