Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits that he is braced for bids for Luis Suarez during the off-season.
The Uruguayan international was one of the Premier League’s best players this season, and the Reds do not want to sell him.
But some of their European rivals are said to believe that Suarez can be plucked from Anfield, by offering him an escape from England where he is largely reviled, and by offering Liverpool a mega transfer fee.
Suarez’s football abilities mean that Liverpool are loath to lose him, but his inability to stay out of trouble or avoid controversy thanks to his sometimes shocking behaviour means his future on Merseyside is tenuous.
"I don't have any doubts about that because he's up there," Rodgers admitted when asked if Suarez has high-profile suitors.
"There's a small percentage of players who are world-class and he's in that bracket so I don't think it will be too dissimilar to when I first came in last summer. People will want to take him. But he was committed to wanting to stay and work with the club. I think he's very happy here.”
"We as a club and I as a manager have supported him, told him when he's been right and when he's been wrong,” Rodgers added, referring to Suarez’s racial run-in with Patrice Evra, and his animalistic biting of Branislav Ivanovic.
“The supporters show their passion for him relentlessly so as a club I don't think we can do any more.
"We have supported him when he's been in turmoil and when he's had setbacks, when there's been traumas over the last couple of years. As a club we're doing everything to keep him and all the players content, and in the main I think they are."
Meanwhile, Liverpool and West Ham are waiting to hear what Andy Carroll wants.
The Reds have agreed to suck up a £20 million loss by flogging Carroll to the Hammers for just £15 million, after buying him from Newcastle for £35 million two seasons ago.
The Hammers are keen to keep the England international striker, while the Reds are desperate to get him off their wage bill, as one of the last vestiges of the pre-Rodgers era of bad spending.
Carroll however, is yet to decide where his future lies.
Liverpool maintain that moving to Upton Park would be good for Carroll’s career- he would play more regularly there, and is clearly appreciated by the Hammers faithful.
The Reds are simply determined to sell Carroll, and put the money towards squad reinforcements, specifically a world-class defender.
They must be praying that Carroll accepts the ticket to East London, and are probably grateful that his barnstorming late season form bumped his likely transfer fee up to £15 million, when at times this season they would have been happy to get half that amount.
