Sorry Roy! Liverpool must develop young players rather than splash the cash, warns owner John W Henry



John W Henry wants to overhaul Liverpool’s youth policy in an attempt to catch up with Manchester United and Arsenal.



Not a single player has broken through from the club’s academy to become established as a key first-team player since Steven Gerrard at the end of the 1990s, and the new owner is determined for that to change.



Speaking to fans in Liverpool on Tuesday, Henry admitted his club are lagging a long way behind United and Arsenal, who have brought through high-calibre players such as David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs.



On your own: New Liverpool owner John W Henry looks set to rein in the spending on players ahead of new UEFA finance rules being brought in next year

‘On the field we have to be smarter,’ said the American, who completed his takeover of the club last month. ‘Arsenal and Man U have depth that is young and capable. We do not. We have a lot of work to do there. A lot of work. And we will, but we have to be smart about it.



‘We are here for the long term. Everything we do is for the long term. Our biggest responsibility is to bring in the right people to the club on and off the field.’



Henry’s frankness is likely to be welcomed by Liverpool fans, who have seen a string of costly foreign imports fail to impress in the past couple of years while neighbours Everton have become the Merseyside club developing exciting young players.



Unconvincing start: Liverpool new boy Raul Meireles arrived in the summer from Porto for £11.5m, but Roy Hodgson has been able to spend much on new players



But they will be less impressed by Henry’s revelation that he has made no written guarantee not to offload the costs of taking over Liverpool on to the club in terms of debt.

‘I don’t remember anything being discussed along these lines,’ Henry said. ‘Except that there was a desire for all of (Liverpool’s) debt to be removed except stadium debt.’



The owner is in England this week to gauge opinion on key issues and will talk to Roy Hodgson about the January transfer window.



Last man: Steven Gerrard is the most recent example of a player coming through the Liverpool academy system

It is already clear the manager will not be in a position to buy his way out of trouble and Henry has indicated that UEFA’s incoming financial rules mean big spending will not return until the business side of the club has been overhauled.



He will appoint a chief executive to carry that out and is keen to bring someone on board with top level football experience.



Despite Liverpool lagging behind many of their rivals in many areas, Henry is optimistic, saying he wakes up every day ‘thinking about what we can do to improve our chances of winning a championship’.



