Rodgers refuses to confirm Eriksen interest

Brendan Rodgers admits the need to strengthen his Liverpool squad but refuses to specify whether he is targeting Ajax midfielder Christian Eriksen.

"We've seen the list of foreign scouts who visited our games and Liverpool was often present" - Marc Overmars

Ajax director of football Marc Overmars suggested on Friday that the Reds have been scouting the Danish midfielder, who has made over 100 appearances for the Eredivisie champions, but the Northern Irishman hinted that the scouts' target may have been different.

"If you read what he says, I think what he says [is] we've had scouts at the game, but we could have been watching anyone," Rodgers told reporters. "We could have been watching someone from the other team.

"We'll be like every other club, we'll be looking at good players, but, as I've always done and will continue to do, I won't speak about any players or speculate on anything."

Goal.com revealed on Friday that Liverpool have identifed Ashley Williams and Stefan de Vrij as summer transfer targets and the 48-year-old did acknowledge that Jamie Carragher's retirement would prompt recruitment in defence.

"I think we're going to be light in that area, so we just have to, between now and the end of the season, assess. That's the one area of the field where we haven't brought anyone in," Rodgers continued.

"We've brought midfield players in to the group and we've brought front players into the group but as of yet there's been no one in that area of the field.

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"Naturally, we're obviously going to lose Jamie, which is a big loss. There's no player that's irreplaceable but he's a big loss because you see his experience and how he leads the line, and when you're playing as a defender you need someone in there that's vocal and can organise the line - he does that remarkably well.

"I've also got really good players here - Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel - but between now and the end of the season we know we need to strengthen the group, and that's something that we'll look at doing."

Rodgers added of Carragher: "There's no doubt he'll be a miss and I'll miss him, because he's a good man, he's a lover of football, and he puts everything into his training every day.

"He's a real role model for all the players - young and the senior players - but he's got eight games left, let's not write him off yet. He's still fit and strong and like you say, we missed his leadership qualities at Southampton and he'll come back into the squad [against Aston Villa]."