Henry: Unhappy Liverpool players can leave
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Liverpool owner John W Henry concedes no player will be kept at Liverpool against their will - but has expressed his surprise at the relative lack of worth of contracts in English football.
There has been speculation this week over the futures of star men Fernando Torres, Jose Reina and Dirk Kuyt, and Henry admits that he would not stand in their way if they wanted to quit the club.''It is a completely different system here to what we are used to. If a player has a contract in the United States they fulfil the contract,'' he said. ''Over here, it seems players have much more say-so about where they are.
''Frankly, we don't want a player at the club who doesn't want to be at the club. It's really up to us to provide the kind of leadership, on and off the field, that any player at the club or who is coming to the club wants to be here.''
Nonetheless, he said of the key trio: ''I was upset about the assertion that they were leaving. There was one day when I read reports that we were not going to be involved in the transfer window because we do not have the funds. The next day I read that Torres and Reina were leaving.
''I have spoken with a number of our top players and was really heartened by the response. I was heartened by the intelligence of these players, who understand more about Liverpool than we do. They were good discussions.''