Houllier satisfied with squad

The 29-year-old German international will miss the first four months of the season after suffering a recurrence of a knee injury but Houllier, who is also still without Salif Diao, believes his squad is strong enough to cope without the influential former Bayern Munich midfielder.

Houllier said: "I won't be looking for the moment. I am happy with the squad and injuries like this are why we have a good squad.

"It is a problem without being a big problem because we have enough players and enough quality. Salif Diao started running again today and I already have internal options. The majority of the squad are young. Every year they are improving and if they continue to do the right things they can only get bigger and bigger."