Andriy Voronin
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I have a feeling he will be the back up striker we'll need.
Ukrainian striker Andriy Voronin wants another chance to prove he has a future at Liverpool.
JoernPollex/GettyImages
Voronin has returned to Liverpool
The 29-year-old is back in boss Rafael Benitez's squad after a year-long loan at Hertha Berlin and figured in last night's opening pre-season friendly against St Gallen.
Voronin played in the first half of a 0-0 draw and is clearly intent on reviving his career at Liverpool.
Benitez said: "He did really well in Germany last season, scoring plenty of goals, and he has told me that he wants to stay at the club and fight for his position.
"I have told him that will be difficult with Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard as our first-choice strikers. But he realises this and the players we have in the squad.
"But he also knows that this club always plays more than 60 games a season and that means there are opportunities. He will fight for his place.''
Voronin signed for Liverpool on a free transfer from Bayer Leverkusen in 2007 but, after recovering from an ankle injury, was shipped out to Berlin a year ago.
He scored 11 goals in 21 league games for Berlin, who finished fourth in the Bundesliga, just missing out on Champions League qualification.
If Hertha had made it to the Champions League, they would have had the finances to pay a £6million fee for the Ukrainian.
Benitez would certainly be prepared to sell Voronin now to boost his transfer budget and another loan could be possible.
But Voronin is at least being given the chance to show he can be a viable back-up striker.
Benitez said: "Voronin is doing well. Last pre-season he also did really well for us and then when he went on loan he had a very good season in Germany with Hertha Berlin.
"He has game intelligence, which is something we are always looking for.
"At this moment he is a Liverpool player. But it depends on him, he is continuing to work hard and is playing well so he will have a chance.
"It is good to have him back. When we signed him we were looking for a player who could play 'between the lines' as a second striker with quality.''
Benitez was also impressed with the quality of new signing Glen Johnson against St Gallen, the England defender making his debut as a second-half substitute in an unfamiliar left-back role at the AFG Arena.
The Liverpool chief said: "Glen played at left-back because we do not have too many options there at the moment due to injuries.
"I asked him to play on the left and he did really well. The team as a whole did well but everyone was watching Glen and he was good.''
Johnson almost scored within minutes of coming on and was pleased with his debut.
He said: "It felt fantastic out there, it was nice to get my first 45 minutes.
"Now I can get on with it. The boys have made me feel really welcome from the start and I enjoyed getting out there and putting in a performance with them.
"It's been brilliant at the training camp, I have loved every minute of it and I am looking forward to the season ahead.''
The absence of Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena meant Johnson filled in at left-back, and the new boy is only too happy to adapt.
He said: "I have played there before, though not recently. But I have been training there for the last few days and I quite enjoy it.
"I was very disappointed not to have scored with the chance I had. I want to score every opportunity I get and I should have done better.''
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I think will be same like 2 seasons ago ...... Rafa will not play him alot .