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Brendan Rodgers insists Liverpool FC’s transfer business this summer will ensure they are genuine title contenders once again next season.

On the two previous occasions the Reds finished as runners-up in the Premier League era they failed to push on.

Rather than being a stepping stone to glory, Kopites endured false dawns under both Gerard Houllier in 2002 and Rafa Benitez in 2009.

Both those summers had plenty in common – Liverpool made bad mistakes in the transfer market and paid the price.

From finishing second to Arsenal in 2001/02, Houllier’s men slipped to fifth the following campaign, while 12 months after running Manchester United close for the title Benitez’s reign unravelled as a sorry season ended with a seventh placed finish.

Rodgers is confident there will be no repeat. With the added demands of Champions League football next term, the Reds boss knows Liverpool require greater strength in depth.

He has already snapped up England striker Rickie Lambert from Southampton for £4million and Germany Under-21s midfielder Emre Can for £10million from Bayer Leverkusen.

Other deals are in the pipeline and Rodgers is targeting players with both the “hunger” and “ambition” to make their mark at Anfield.

“What we do need to do to ensure we kick on? We need to ensure we continue with our thinking in terms of the types of players we're going to bring in,” Rodgers told the ECHO.

“We want to bring in players who are hungry. They must have the ambition to want to come in and succeed here.

“We need players who there can be no doubts about their quality.

“We're in a position now where we're going straight into the group stage of the Champions League and we’re going into the Premier League next season with an expectation and a belief that we can win the league.

“We need players that have those qualities. That belief, players who are willing to improve and who are hungry to improve themselves.

“If we can get a number of signings with that profile then we can go on and build on last season.”

In both 2002 and 2009 Liverpool needed an injection of quality to help them take the next step but it didn’t happen.

Houllier rejected the chance to sign Nicolas Anelka after a successful loan spell from Paris Saint-Germain and instead splashed out £10million on Lens striker El Hadji Diouf.

The Senegal frontman scored twice on his Anfield debut against Southampton but netted just one more league goal all season.

His international clubmate Salif Diao, who cost £4.7million from Sedan, was equally as ineffective. Fellow midfielder Bruno Cheyrou, a £4million purchase from Lille, also flopped.

Having splashed out nearly £20million on three main signings, Liverpool went backwards and ended up losing out to Chelsea in the battle for the final Champions League spot.

It was a similar story in 2009, although Benitez’s battle to improve the Reds that summer was hampered by the civil war raging in the Anfield boardroom.

Xabi Alonso was sold to Real Madrid for £30million and his replacement was Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani for £17million.

The Italian didn’t even make an appearance until late October due to an ankle injury and when he did play it was soon apparent he was ill equipped to cope with the demands of English football.

Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos wasn’t able to fill the boots of the legendary Sami Hyypia and the decision to spend £18million on Glen Johnson looked extravagant considering there were other more pressing areas of the squad which needed to be addressed.

Benitez later insisted he had been promised the funds to land Fiorentina attacker Stevan Jovetic from Fiorentina but the owners diverted the cash away from his budget in order to service the interest payments on the club’s mounting debts.

From finishing second, four points behind United in 2009, the Reds crashed to seventh, 23 points adrift of champions Chelsea.

Rodgers knows if Liverpool are going to build on a 2013/14 campaign which surpassed all expectations this summer’s signings must have more of an impact than a year ago.

The Reds snapped up eight players but only Simon Mignolet and Mamadou Sakho made any real contribution to the club’s title challenge.

Loan signings Aly Cissokho and Victor Moses have returned to their parent clubs, while Iago Aspas, Luis Alberto and Kolo Toure could all move on before the new campaign begins.

Asked if Liverpool would be shopping for a higher calibre of players this summer, Rodgers added: “We have to be. It’s one where we just need good players.

“The position we were in last summer was that we were losing players who were cover players and it was difficult for us to bring in starters.

“This year the squad will change around. We will need to change the team regularly over the course of the season in order to keep the efficiency and the energy in the team.

“Those players who are coming in need to be capable starters. They have to be to the level that we require to perform. That is absolutely key for us this summer.”

LFC TRANSFER DEALS SUMMER 2002

INS

Bruno Cheyrou (Lille) £3.7m

El Hadji Diouf (Lens) £10m

Alou Diarra (Bayern Munich) Free

Salif Diao (Sedan) £4.7m

OUTS

Nick Barmby (Leeds United) £3.75m

Stephen Wright (Sunderland) £3m

Jari Litmanen (Ajax) Free

LFC TRANSFER DEALS SUMMER 2009

INS

Glen Johnson (Portsmouth) £17.5m

Alberto Aquilani (Roma) £17.1m

Sotirios Kyrgiakos (AEK Athens) £2m

OUTS

Paul Anderson (Nottingham Forest) £250,000

Sebastian Leto (Panathinaikos) £3m

Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid) £3.5m

Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid) £30m

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