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Liverpool FC are at the forefront of introducing performance related pay for players, according to chief executive Ian Ayre.

And it is being largely welcomed by players and even their agents.

In negotiating or re-negotiating deals, Liverpool are using the latest statistical and analytical tools to show players how and where they can improve - or where they may have dropped in standard - to incentivise them.

If young players develop or reach levels they are capable of - or established stars maintain or improve further - they will reap the financial benefits for their efforts.

LFC staff

Said Ayre: “In any business you can make lots of money but if you let it go out of the door in other ways, then you are in trouble.

“I think a big part of what we have done over several years is try to realign all sorts of costs.

“The obvious biggest outgoing is players’ wages and transfer fees. That’s taken a pretty dramatic change in terms of how we look at it, analyse it and pay for it - and how we structure contracts.

“So elements of performance in contracts is key; getting value is key - value in and value out.

“That takes time, because a it’s a new structure and new way of going about things.

“If you are re-negotiating a player’s contract, you can only do that at the time it is due to happen. That has taken some years but we feel we have made great progress and we’ll continue that.

“Like any incentive it has to be achievable. There is no point setting goals that are just unrealistic.

“We pay good pay for our players; we pay fair pay. But we also like to give them the appetite to earn more which we know footballers like to do. As we all do.

LFC transfer clauses £12.8m Possible pay-outs £3.3m Possible received

“So we spend a lot of time and our Performance and Analysis team spend a lot of time analysing and structuring, so that when we put a deal to a player that has performance related bonuses or elements, we are not only just showing them what they can earn, we are showing them the realism of that.

“It’s realistic because we have all the statistics. And they can see that they are actually very capable of it - and in some cases they have been doing it.

“It’s perhaps that we’d just like to see more of it . And they can then feel energised to go out and achieve that.

“That’s a far cry from deals where it is sort of nailed on and then it doesn’t matter whether they perform or do not perform.

“So we are just trying to find a balance. I think other teams are doing that as well - or at least trying to do that.

“And it’s certainly working for us - we have a happy bunch of players.”