"Our plans - well they're Rafa's really - have worked pretty much as we hoped. There was a lot of speculation he was unhappy, but that was never the case, and we had an agreement over how to proceed. The first thing was getting the existing core of players signed on extensions, which we did with Pepe, Stevie, Carra and several others. It was critical to get those locked up," said the Liverpool co-chairman.
"Then we wanted to proceed with the new ones. We started with Lucas, then Torres and hopefully a couple more as well, which should go through very soon. I wouldn't rule out one more, either.
"The team's going to be a far better one this year, which is important. Part of the plan that Rafa told me and George was we needed more depth. It's a long season, especially in the Premiership, and that depth is important over 38 games.
"We have that now, particularly up front, and I am very excited. I'm coming over for the Chelsea game in mid-August and really looking forward to it.
"Rafa explained to George and me that we could compete in the Champions League, because of the format, better than over the gruelling 10 months of the Premiership. He said we needed more players to add depth, because it's what Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United had, but we didn't."