Brendan Rodgers
Steve Clarke announces departure after Rodgers arrival Reuters

Liverpool are on the verge of naming Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers as their choice to take charge of the first team at Anfield, following Kenny Dalglish's sacking after a poor league season. The latest reports suggest the club are willing to pay the Swans a compensation fee of £5mn for the services of Rodgers.

Meanwhile, there are reports, in the Daily Mail, which claim the Reds will also have to pay compensation for Rodgers' backroom staff, including Colin Pascoe (first-team coach), Chris Davies (match-analyst) and Glen Driscoll (conditioning expert). The total sum payable is reportedly more than £5.5mn.

However, although the Reds can certainly afford the sum, they may have a problem, according to the reading of UEFA's new Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. According to information on the FFP Web site, a club can only take a total loss of around £42.7mn in the first monitoring period; after that the loss ceiling is capped at £36mn.

Unfortunately, Liverpool registered a substantial loss last season and may be forced to offload some of their players before bringing new ones in. Nevertheless, the club's priority must be about appointing a new manager. The club's owners went through a lot to find Dalglish's successor and will be hoping Rodgers can deliver the Reds' first league title since the 1990 season. As far as the 2011/12 campaign was concerned, although Liverpool reached the finals of the FA Cup and won their first Carling Cup in over six years, it was clearly not enough for the Reds' ambitious owners, who sacked Dalglish after the Anfield club finished eighth in the Premier League.

Meanwhile, Liverpool midfielder Jan Molby feels Rodgers, despite his great work with Swansea City, will face a tough time at Anfield next season.

"The fact Liverpool didn't finish in the top four spelled the end for Dalglish so he will be left in no doubt what's required. You cannot prepare people for the size of the club. Rodgers has done a super job at Swansea playing some good football but it's a step up and expectations will be massive," the BBC quoted Molby as saying.

Elsewhere, Wigan Athletic have reportedly given Swansea permission to hold talks with assistant manager Graeme Jones following Rodgers' departure, according to an ESPN report. Jones, who was a part of the Swans' backroom staff during Roberto Martinez's reign (2007-2009), was earlier approached by Swansea following Paulo Sousa's sacking in 2010. That time, however, the decision was made to give the job to Rodgers.