Brendan Rodgers Discusses Profile of Player he Wants to Bring to Liverpool

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers only wants to bring players with "strong technique and football intelligence" to the club this summer.

After the Reds secured Champions League football for the first time in four years the club are expected to bolster their squad with the aim of challenging on all fronts next season.

A number of names have already been linked with moves to Anfield including Dnipro winger Yehven Konoplyanka, Valencia midfielder Dani Parejo and Southampton star Adam Lallana.

And although he has refused to speculate on who the club are targeting, Rodgers has made it clear that he only wants players of the highest calibre arriving on Merseyside in the coming months.

"Our criteria that we look for is players with strong technique and football intelligence," Rodgers told the club's website, speaking after Wednesday's 4-0 win over Shamrock Rovers at the Aviva Stadium.

"They need to mentally have the attitude and the capacity to learn. And they have to be so hungry to fight for every ball on every day in training and in the game.

"You'll get some players who are specialists and who need to play in particular positions, but if we can get players in who are multi-functional, and can play in different roles and are multi-dimensional in their work, it sets us up and gives me more options as a coach."

Liverpool's vibrant and versatile side have won praise from all corners for their attacking impetus this season where they missed out on the Premier League title by a mere two points. And during a summer where the club may not be able to spend as freely as the sides around them, Rodgers insists he will carefully identify players capable of immediately adopting the system he has instilled.

"We've developed tactically over the last couple of years," said Rodgers. "Our style has been the same, but the structure of the team has changed a number of times in order to fit the needs of the games and to give problems to the opponent.

"In order to do that, you need players with the capacity to be tactically intelligent. It also allows you to keep your squad smaller and tighter."