Liverpool have arrived in Asia for the pre-season tour of the Far East, and Brendan Rodgers today gave a press-conference to a group of Thai journalists.
As you’d expect, most of the questions were about Raheem Sterling, who looks set to complete a £49m signing to Manchester City once he passes his medical (via BBC Sport).
But the boss swerved them largely, admitting that a move to City is likely, but promising that his only focus was the players currently with him on tour.
Those include a number of academy starlets and new signings Joe Gomez, Adam Bogdan, James Milner and Danny Ings.
Roberto Firmino has not travelled due to his extended period of leave due to the Copa America.
Sadly, Rodgers also swerved questions about new signings – claiming our business would be done behind closed doors.
We play our first game of pre-season against a Thai All-Star XI on Tuesday, with a youthful lineup expected to take the field.
James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo live tweeted the press-conference and selected the most important quotes from our Northern Irish manager.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) July 13, 2015
Rodgers: “The situation is very simple. The club has agreed a deal with another club for Raheem subject to a medical that’ll go through.” — James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) July 13, 2015
Rodgers: “Raheem & I have always remained very strong in our relationship and that remained the case when we left. There is no issue there.”
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) July 13, 2015
Rodgers: “Our trip to Asia couple of years ago provided us with wonderful foundation for a good league campaign.We hope this will be similar — James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) July 13, 2015
Asked about possible new signings, Rodgers: “My only interest is in the players who are here to work and prepare for the season ahead.”
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) July 13, 2015
Rodgers: “At this moment in time our only objective is to get as fit as we possibly can. Our target is to be the best that we can be.” — James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) July 13, 2015
Rodgers says that it was his decision to overhaul his backroom staff. ‘I wanted to go in a different direction.” #LFCtour
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceEcho) July 13, 2015