Liverpool Manager Brendan Rodgers Grateful For FSG Support

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has praised owners Fenway Sports Group after being handed new long-term contract at Anfield and is confident he will be backed in the transfer market.

After guiding The Reds to second in the Premier League last season, Rodgers has been rewarded with a contract extension which reportedly runs until 2018.

Rodgers has already discussed his intent to improve the Liverpool squad ahead of the new campaign which will include the club's first appearance in the Champions League since 2009 – a genuine carrot for prospective new players across Europe.

"The owners have been great," Rodgers said. They're winners themselves. We want to work it in a way that makes the club sustainable and I think we've clearly shown that it's about the top quality.

"It's also about being strategic in those signings as well, bringing in the right players. It's key for me that I can speak to the owners like that.

"The big lure will be Champions League, that's what I've found in my conversations with agents and people. The best players want to play in the big competition. That's the fight and I certainly found that last summer but we've put Liverpool back on the map."

Though Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United are all expected to improve across the summer, Liverpool will begin next season among the contenders for the title after going close to clinching a first championship since 1990.

Instead of shying away from the pressure of the new season, Rodgers admits Liverpool will be a threat on all fronts in the new term.

"Everyone sees that we're going to be a threat; that we're going to go into Europe next year and we'll have no fear, we need to pay attention in terms of the teams we'll be playing against, but we'll have no fear," he added. "That's what top players want, to play in teams where they can show their talents.

"Yes, it is also about wages, but there was one player who we offered more money to than he took from the club that he went to just to play Champions League football."