Liverpool closing in on £100m investment, says Christian Purslow

Posted Thursday, January 14, 2010 by Telegraph.co.uk

Christian Purslow, the Liverpool managing director, is hopeful that the club can secure £100 million of investment in the “foreseeable future”.

Dynamic duo: Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow has pledged that Liverpool will never sell Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres to reduce their debts

However, he admits there are “no guarantees” the club will be able to find the cash necessary for work on a new stadium to resume and fulfil co-owner Tom Hicks’s promise of a “big summer” in the transfer market.

He has tried to allay supporters’ fears, however, by denying that players, including Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, could be sold to cover repayments on the club’s £237 million debt.

Purslow has been tasked with finding an investor, or several smaller-scale investors, to take a 25 per cent stake of the club and is believed to be hopeful of presenting a proposal to Liverpool’s revamped board by the end of March.

Sources at Liverpool have confirmed a deal has been “very close” for several weeks but Purslow, who has not ruled out the prospect of a complete buy-out of Hicks and George Gillett, admits there is a long process to be undertaken before any investment is finalised.

“Provided all goes well, there is a serious possibility of new fresh investment within the foreseeable future,” he said. “There are no guarantees, but because of the quality of the club, we haven’t had problems in attracting interest.

"However, the devil is always in the detail and in the coming months our job is to get somebody over the line that makes sense for all concerned. That could be part-ownership or it could be complete ownership.

“The suggestion in any way that we would sell players in order to pay down debt or pay money to our owners is preposterous. Neither is true. Neither is possible. Any proceeds we generate from the sale of players can only go into our player account for the recruitment of new players.”

Hicks told fans in an email this week that a new stadium would be a “game-changer” ahead of a summer in which he expects to bolster the transfer budget, but without an equity injection, neither is likely to come to fruition.