Soccer:Liverpool chairman Tom Werner insists the club's owners are prepared to provide money for big-name signings if it benefits the long-term future of the team.
Since their €356 million purchase in October there has been little suggestion from principal owner John Henry and Werner that substantial investment would be available for squad rebuilding.
And while Werner admits they are looking for greater value in terms of the players they sign, that does not preclude a significant outlay on the right individual.
That will come as welcome news to both fans and manager Kenny Dalglish, who is looking to bolster the squad he inherited from Roy Hodgson nearly a fortnight ago.
It is a particularly timely pronouncement considering Ajax coach Frank de Boer has stressed it will take "an absurd amount" for him to part with Liverpool's number one target Luis Suarez.
Valuations of the Uruguay international stretch from €21 million to €30 million and it remains to be seen whether Fenway Sports Group, the subsidiary of New England Sports Ventures - owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise and who originally bought the club - are prepared to go that far.
But Werner said taking a wide look at the economics of transfers did not preclude making major signings. Asked if Liverpool could still secure marquee signings like the €26 million spent on Fernando Torres in the summer of 2007 Werner replied: "Yes. Look at our history.
"The Boston Red Sox have the second-highest wages in baseball and we have been as successful, if not more, than the new York Yankees. We are coming from a market that is somewhere like Liverpool, we are not New York or London, and we have been successful in generating revenues which we have ploughed back into an excellent team.
"We will be driven by value but we certainly have the resources to have some targets. We are in this for the long-term and every pound that we make will strengthen the club. We do have great resources. We have a very high wage bill and it shouldn't be such that we are 12th in the league right now.
"I don't want to get the wage bill down, I want it to increase and we have the resources to do that - I just think we ought to be performing at a better level than we had been. I expect us to move forward and improve our position. But we are not going to be making decisions which do not improve the fortunes of the club long term.
"There have been some decisions made which have set the club back and our hope is we will have some announcement to make but there is nothing I can say today."
Werner was keen to stress the long-term vision FSG have for Liverpool involves increasing income - with help from either a new or revamped stadium - in order to be able to invest in the club.
But he accepts that will take time and a far-reaching blueprint is not something which is easy to sell to supporters who are enduring the worst season for decades.
"Everyone knows our long-term goals are to restore the lustre to the club and we want to honour our great history by winning more trophies," added Werner. This has obviously been a somewhat frustrating period for all of our supporters so in the short term we just want to see some progress and hopefully under Kenny our fortunes will improve.
"We consider ourselves to be a big-four club and we have a lot of resources. At the same time we need to figure a way to grow our club because no-one is happy with the status quo at Anfield because we need to increase our match-day revenues.
"At the same time I feel the long term is bright and I am very encouraged about some of the ideas to increase our revenue."
It seems plenty of money will be required to lure Suarez away from Ajax after De Boer's latest comments.
"We know how important Luis is for Ajax. Only when an absurd amount is on the table should we let him go," he told De Telegraaf. "Luis feels good and is training well, I don't think he will leave at any cost."
Werner has also hinted that Dalglish could be in line for the manager's job beyond the end of the season.
Despite the Scot being considered merely a short-term solution to the Reds' stuttering season at Anfield, the American insisted that Dalglish's work had not gone unnoticed.
"You have to be thinking for the long-term. We're tough and we're hopefully looking out, not just for the club in the short-term but for the long-term. You don't like to sack anybody but I think it was time to move forward in a different direction.
"He (Dalglish) is, as everybody knows, an iconic figure in our club's history. He's got many of the qualities that we've admired. He's competent; he certainly understands the club's philosophy and he's excellent at man-management. And we've been very pleased with the progress.
"It's obviously quick and he's only been on the job for a short term, but he's quite aware of the challenge. The players are quite supportive of Kenny and I've been very impressed with him.
"I don't like to play hunches, but he certainly is a candidate and he understood that it was a short-term position; but he's certainly done everything not just to impress us, but our fans and players."
