Tom Hicks 'will keep' Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard at Liverpool

The American also said the club is unlikely to be sold before the end of the year and manager Rafael Benitez has ‘substantial’ transfer funds at his disposal.

Having posted their worst Premier League finish for 11 years – seventh – speculation has grown about the futures of Benitez, striker Torres and captain Gerrard.
But despite the debt of Hicks’ and co-owner George Gillett’s parent company Kop Holdings rising to £351million last summer, he insisted: ‘We have no intention of selling any of our top players and have a substantial transfer budget in place. We will make a significant investment this ­summer. It’s about getting the right players.’
Hicks – urged yesterday to sell up by former owner David Moores – added: ‘We will sell the club. We’re not going to sell it to the wrong group, we’re not going to sell it for the wrong price, we’re going to do it in a thoughtful way.
‘I don’t anticipate it will be done before the beginning of the next season. We hope it gets done by the end of the calendar year.’
Torres, meanwhile, brushed aside speculation about his future – just 24 hours after his agent said the Spain striker was staying put.
The 26-year-old said: ‘I didn’t read those comments. The most important thing for me now is the World Cup. My future is the World Cup and then we’ll see later.....