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“Recruitment ultimately comes down to two things: availability and affordability. That’s the nuts and bolts of it.

“We all know who the best players are, but we are trying to find the rough diamonds we can polish up as well as being in the market for the top players.”

They were the words of Brendan Rodgers to the ECHO, back in the late summer of 2012, as you may well remember.

Liverpool’s former boss was speaking in the wake of his first summer as Reds manager when he had ushered the unwanted Andy Carroll out of the the Anfield door but failed to adequately replace him.

Club owners FSG had refused to sanction a deal for Clint Dempsey and other options didn’t fit the bill. Rodgers would wait to strengthen, with Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho arriving in the January window just a few months later.

Those words may have been uttered more than five years ago - and by a manager long gone - but they remain fundamental to the business Liverpool will try to do this summer.

The context however is very different.

Where Rodgers spoke of “polishing rough diamonds” in terms of affordability, it is rather availability which will prove the most difficult hurdle for Jurgen Klopp as he seeks to build on this week’s mood-enhancing arrival of Mohamed Salah.

Make no mistake, Liverpool’s parameters for affordability are very different now.

They have money available though they are not inclined to shout about it, perhaps explaining their rather different views of the Salah fee than that publicly declared to the stock exchange by Roma as one which could rise to 50m euros.

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And let’s be frank, FSG should have money available to their manager, and lots of it.

Klopp after all kept his powder dry in January when his intended targets weren’t available - there’s that word cropping up again - a decision which cost Liverpool in the short term but which can be mitigated by a strong and decisive summer window.

His transfer dealings in the previous two windows have delivered a net profit when it could reasonably have been expected to see an investment of at least £30m in each. He will also generate his own money to spend with a clear-out of fringe players, even if Napoli’s £11m for Alberto Moreno was deemed short of Liverpool’s £15m asking price earlier this week.

With Salah in the bag, fans will naturally look to see which position the Reds will move to strengthen next.

A centre-back for many, a midfielder for some, a left-back for almost everybody.

The club are taking a more fluid approach and insist they will take opportunities when availability arises with players of the quality they seek. Klopp himself has spoken of how limited that supply of players actually is.

Spanish reports that the Reds had bid 100m euros for Kylian Mbappe weren’t accurate as at this stage the club don’t yet believe he is a player who might be available to them, with Real Madrid seemingly in the driving seat for any move for the coveted Monaco striker.

The fact that Liverpool are interested and now at least in the conversations for those top players is though a significant step forward.

Remember 2012. Remember Clint Dempsey. Yes, Clint Dempsey.

Other positions too could be hit by the availability dilemma.

(Image: ROBERT MICHAEL/AFP/Getty Images)

UEFA’s decision this week to allow RB Leipzig to take part in the Champions League after apparently overcoming the dual ownership issues arising from Red Bull Salzburg undoubtedly dealt the Reds a blow in their chances of prising Naby Keita away from the Bundesliga runners-up.

Ryan Sessegnon was favoured as a promising left back but prefers staying in London, most likely with Spurs while Southampton decided to make Virgil van Dijk very unavailable, to Liverpool at least, even with £60m set to be waved under their noses.

As avenues close Liverpool will pursue others with Klopp constantly on the phone with sporting director Michael Edwards and FSG president Mike Gordon, even as he soaked up the Ibiza sun on “holiday”, the three essentially masterminding Anfield’s summer business.

Liverpool got one hugely promising deal over the line this week but the work has barely started.

There is no endless supply of money of course, there never is, but there are now few deals from which Liverpool would have to walk away from due to financial constraints alone.

Most are now “affordable”.

What will decide the success or otherwise of Liverpool’s summer is how many can become “available”.