Liverpool will attempt to secure the signing of the Real Sociedad midfielder Xabi Alonso this week after agreeing to sell Danny Murphy to Tottenham Hotspur for £2.5 million.
Rafael Benitez was at Goodison Park on Saturday to watch the 22-year-old Spain international play the first half of a 2-2 friendly draw with Everton.
The Anfield club will instigate talks today and are ready to offer about £12 million for a player who interested Real Madrid this summer and more recently attracted scouts from Arsenal.
Liverpool had originally targeted Alonso, primarily considered a defensive midfielder, to succeed Steven Gerrard when the England international appeared intent on a move to Chelsea.
Gerrard's subsequent decision to remain at Anfield briefly cooled Benitez's interest, until now.
Should Liverpool's pursuit prove successful Alonso would become his compatriot's second signing, after the arrival of the defender Josemi, another Spaniard.
Benitez retains a tentative interest in Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips though he is reluctant to spend his limited funds on a player he knows little about.
That could work in Tottenham's favour. The Londoners hope to follow up Murphy's signing with that of Wright-Phillips. Their initial bid of £4.5 million for the 22-year-old was rejected and they upped it to £5.5 million last night, but City value him at twice that amount.
"I'm not surprised that there's interest in Shaun given that he is one of the Premiership most talented young players," said a City spokesman. "Shaun is pivotal to our future plans and we have no desire to sell him. Negotiations are under way as regards a new contract."
The midfielder has two years to run on his current deal but his friendship with the Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe could tempt him to move to White Hart Lane.
Regardless, Tottenham are confident of completing Murphy's transfer in the next 48 hours despite the threat of late interest from Everton and Charlton.
Murphy's surprise sale after a seven-year association with Liverpool will leave Benitez's side stretched in midfield for their Champions League qualifier against Grazer AK in Austria tomorrow, not to mention for the start of the Premiership season next weekend.
In the likely absence of the injured Gerrard, Benitez is likely to favour a quartet of Harry Kewell, Dietmar Hamann, Salif Diao and Steve Finnan at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium.
Liverpool's interest in Alonso has also illustrated the shift in favour after the managerial change in the summer.
Benitez has instigated something of a cull of the old regime's playing squad, most notably loaning out a succession of recruits from French football and replacing them with two Spaniards.
Liverpool's squad suddenly appears to need urgent strengthening, with the sale of Emile Heskey to Birmingham, a host of players sent out on loan for a season, and El Hadji Diouf set to join the exodus this week, most probably to Malaga.
There is also Milan Baros's desire to join Barcelona and the absence for an indefinite period of Vladimir Smicer, whose ruptured knee ligaments will confine him to the treatment room for six months.
