Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers 'looking forward' to bringing in new players this summer

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says he is looking forward to bringing new players to Anfield during the summer and appeared to admit the club have missed Luis Suarez.

The Uruguay international lead the Reds in the fight for the Premier League title with Manchester City, with Liverpool eventually finishing second after Suarez scored 31 goals while forging an impressive partnership with Daniel Sturridge.

Rodgers tried to fill the huge void left by the striker's departure to Barcelona with the signing of nine new players in Alberto Moreno, Mario Balotelli, Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Lazar Markovic, Emre Can, Dejan Lovren and Javier Manquillo – while Divock Origi was signed but automatically loaned back to Lille.

But the new additions have failed so far to cope with Suarez's absence and Liverpool are fifth in the Premier League table, out of the Champions League zone with just six games remaining.

Recent reports following the FA Cup elimination to Aston Villa suggested Liverpool are preparing for another massive clear out, while captain Steven Gerrard has already confirmed his departure to MLS side LA Galaxy.

When asked how much squad fine-tuning may be required, Rodgers said: "The ambition is, of course, to be much greater and better than that, so we have to be planning forward.

"That means bringing in players in the summer and that's something that's well under way and we'll look forward to that. This year was an opportunity and I think next year will be an even greater opportunity for us again to kick on and keep improving."

Meanwhile, the manager has suggested the current situation is not a failure but last season Liverpool "overachieved".

Rodgers pointed out the massive role played by Suarez and Sturridge, who has been out of action during much of the current campaign due to injuries.

"There was obviously a lot of money spent last summer and a lot of players coming in. If you take the emotion out of last weekend, this was a team that probably overachieved last year; we weren't expected to get into the top four," he said.

"That same team had a world-class striker in it and someone who was on fire in terms of Daniel Sturridge, who has the potential to be that when fit and playing. That team last year weren't deemed good enough for the top four, but we went on a great run and nearly won the title. Now with all due respect, we have lost those players.

"We have brought in some players because we needed to improve the squad and develop the squad. Where we sit now at this moment in time, we sit in fifth place, in the top five and reached two cup semi-finals - it is probably really on par with where we're at."