Brendan Rodgers insists there is a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes to enable the manager to strengthen his squad ahead of the 2012-13 season.

Liverpool have been linked with a number of players during pre-season and, while keeping his targets close to his chest, the manager is confident he will get the players he desires.

Rodgers told Liverpoolfc.com: “There’s a lot of great work going on, obviously with the board and Ian Ayre in particular doing a lot of work behind the scenes. I’ve got regular contact going with our American owners and, in particular, Mike Gordon from Fenway Sports Group.

“Obviously when it’s a club like Liverpool prices are always increased and so on, but I always felt it was important by the beginning of the season we could have the squad we want – and certainly by the end of the transfer window I would hope that will be the case.

“There is lots of speculation. I’ve seen hundreds of names linked with Liverpool and there’s very few of them that were even close to coming here or we have even looked at.

“Unfortunately for the supporters they’ve got to read it and put up with it. But the message is there is a lot of work going on, on a number of deals and hopefully we can get those completed by the end of August.”

Get your tickets for Liverpool’s Anfield clashes with FC Gomel and Bayer Leverkusen now>>