It's about quality not quantity

Last updated : 06 May 2003 By Chris Maxwell
Last summer Gerard Houllier brought in the likes of Bruno Cheyrou, Salif Diao and Salif Diao for a combined fee of close to £18m. Only Diouf, a £10m buy from Lens, has earnt a regular place in the team. Parry admits that the Reds must search for players who will take the fans off the 'edge of their seats' - regardless of whether they qualify for the lucrative Champions League.

Parry said: "We will be bringing in new players. "There will certainly be a couple. It's about quality and not quantity this summer. We have a big squad now and enough players. It's a case of identifying those of real quality who can make a difference for us.

"We've got a shortlist of players - it's quite a long shortlist at the moment - and it's something we're working on all the time.

"I'm reasonably hopeful that the sort of players we'll be bringing in will please the fans and have them on the edge of their seats. We want them to be players who will make a significant improvement.

"It'll be a disappointment and a blow if we're not in the Champions League but it wouldn't be fatal and we would bounce back. Money is tight in the game at the moment but we haven't overstretched ourselves.

"Failure to qualify for the Champions League isn't going to stop us spending a bit of money so our fans can be reassured on that score."