Kenny Dalglish, the most eminent player in Liverpool's history, fears that Rafael Benítez will struggle to attract top-class reinforcements to Anfield this summer unless the club's ownership issues are resolved.

Benítez is highly confident of signing Gareth Barry, the Aston Villa captain, and a handful of low-key acquisitions, such as Philipp Degen, the Borussia Dortmund full back, but Dalglish believes that the continuing dispute between Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the Liverpool co-owners, may deter other potential targets from joining the Merseyside club.

“On the field, [Liverpool] are an attractive proposition,” Dalglish said. “Off it, you would have reservations about coming here while there are still issues to be resolved. How does Rafa get the sign-off to go after a player? Who signs it off and who negotiates the deal to a conclusion? I hope it is resolved sooner rather than later. Players around Europe are starting to look at where they want to play next season and it's not fair for Rafa to try to enter negotiations with an arm behind his back.”

Steven Gerrard, writing in the match programme before the game against Manchester City last Sunday, also stated the importance of signing more top-class players to improve on this season's fourth place in the Barclays Premier League. “We'll hopefully invest in a couple of quality additions to the squad in the summer and have a go at it again,” the Liverpool captain said. “If we get some of the players that the manager wants - and some of them can have the same impact that guys like Yossi Benayoun, Fernando Torres, Martin Skrtel and Ryan Babel have had this year - then we will have taken a step forward.”

Benítez has been critical of the club's approach in the transfer market, but for now he is calm on the issue. “We are close to some targets, but the best way is to work without talking too much,” the manager said.

Peter Crouch may have said too much in a newspaper interview yesterday when he indicated that he did not want to have another season of playing nine league games, but Benítez said that he had held a “positive” conversation with the forward. Crouch is nevertheless expected to leave, with Villa and Portsmouth among those interested in his services.