The Scottish midfielder struggled to make an impression in his debut season at Anfield and, if Joe Allen is bought from Swansea City, may be used to grease the American's move

By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent Liverpool are considering offering Charlie Adam to Fulham as a makeweight in their bid to sign Clint Dempsey The midfielder, signed from Blackpool last summer, failed to shine during his debut season at Anfield and could be pushed further down the pecking order if a Reds move for Swansea City’s Joe Allen materialises.Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that he has made an enquiry for Dempsey, for whomunderstands they will make a bid once the future of Andy Carroll has been resolved, and could be convinced to part with the Scot to make it happen.The signing of Allen appears to be crucial and new Swans boss Michael Laudrup would not rule out the Welshman’s departure, explaining that he is prepared for such an event, with the player’s feelings to be taken into account."You always have to be one step ahead so we have to be prepared for everything," he told reporters. "It’s not only in this case, but with each position in the team."When the transfer window closes on August 31 you can breathe a sigh of relief, but you only have three or four months when people do not talk about transfers because then you look ahead to January 1. It will be the same then."You have to think about the present window as well as the future, which will be the winter window, but we obviously want to be able to have the best possible team available."I haven’t spoken to Joe since I have taken over. I haven’t spoken to any of the three Olympics players and we have not had any contact from Liverpool."I am in contact with the chairman every day. We agree that if there will be an approach then we will have to talk to the player. We cannot just answer 100 per cent yes or no without having talked to the player."That’s a problem because he has to concentrate on the Olympics but we will have to deal with that if and when it comes to that."You can force players to stay but how does that help? It doesn’t work like that. It’s better to find a solution that suits both parties."The Dane also denied suggestions that he had tabled a bid for Bolton midfielder Mark Davies, writing the story off as a convenient rumour."We have made no approach," Laudrup insisted. "He’s a good player, but it is just rumours."I can imagine why there are these rumours because you also have the rumour about Joe Allen and Liverpool."