'Craig has the qualities we need'

Tell us why you wanted to bring Craig Bellamy back to Liverpool.

First of all we were short of an attacking player once David was transferred to Bolton, so we needed someone. Craig is someone we targeted a long time ago as you can imagine. He's not a discovery for anybody, we know the quality of the player. It was a question of timing and once a fee was agreed with Bolton we spoke to Craig straightaway because we knew he had an agreement with Manchester City that he could leave the club. Both for Kenny and I it was a no-brainer and Kenny had a long conversation with Craig this morning and we organised for him to come here.

Was it more complicated to organise with Craig being away with Wales?

First of all it's not easy because it's one of those bizarre things that FIFA have put together, to put an international fixture at the end of the transfer window with all the international players being away. Raul was in Cyprus and Craig was in Celtic Manor, so it wasn't easy but I'd like to really thank Gary Speed and the Welsh FA for allowing Craig to travel. They let him go early this afternoon to make sure the deal could be completed. They were very helpful and we are very grateful for that.

What are the qualities you feel he will add to this Liverpool squad?

I think everyone knows how good a player he is. He has pace, he's a good finisher, he works hard and the timing of his runs is second to none. His work-rate is really good and what we really liked is the fact he is so versatile. He can play wide, he can play up front, he can play off the target man, so he is an ideal complement to the squad we have built during the summer.

People associate Craig Bellamy with his pace - how important an attribute is that?

It is very important in everything we have tried to do this summer. In the cases of Jose Enrique, Jordan and Stewart, they are all very quick and it's something we wanted to emphasise because we felt last season we were lacking a bit of pace. The fact we have got someone who is so quick is very interesting. It's not just about that though, he's got a football brain, he's very good at timing his runs behind the defenders, so he's exactly what we needed and what we were looking for.

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And he's a player of vast Premier League experience...

Yes, Premier League experience, Champions League experience, the fact that he played here before so he knows what to expect and knows the place. He's a perfect fit.

Are you excited now when you look at the attacking options at your disposal?

Very excited. Again, the fact that if you take Craig, Luis and Dirk, they can all play in different positions so it gives Kenny a lot of flexibility in terms of how he wants to play and which partnership he wants to create. It gives us a lot of options. In midfield with Charlie and Jordan, we knew that they were also versatile and would give us a lot, and it's the same up front.

With the window now closed, how pleased are you and Kenny with the business you've been able to do?

We are very, very pleased. I think we will know in May how well we have done in the transfer window. We are pleased because we had a big squad so we knew we had to let some players go, some players wanted minutes they weren't getting here, and for several weeks we had first team players training with the reserves because the squad was so big here at Melwood. We reduced the number dramatically and we feel we added quality as well.

I just spoke to Kenny and he is delighted and I know the owners are happy, so if everyone is happy then I'm happy.