Rodgers on Sigurdsson and Cole

Brendan Rodgers is monitoring the future of midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson – but he insists former club Swansea must be given a chance to persuade the Icelandic star to remain at the Liberty Stadium.

In an interview at Melwood, where he is already making plans for next season, the new Reds manager spoke to Liverpoolfc.tv about Sigurdsson as well as the future of Joe Cole.

On the former, Rodgers said: “First and foremost, Gylfi is a Hoffenheim player.

“I took him on loan for the second half of last season and he did very, very well. He scored seven goals and made a real, positive contribution.

“I wanted to sign him for Swansea but, like I’ve said to him and his representatives, that has to be his first port of call.

“If he comes into the market for whatever reason – and I’m sure there’ll be a number of clubs interested in Gylfi – then of course I would like to be in a position to put our case here at Liverpool to sign him.

“But I’ve always said, I think he’s a player Swansea have had an agreement with and they have to have every chance to try and sign him. That’s only right.

“If anything changes from that, we’ll look at it from there.”

On the other hand when questioned about the future on Joe cole the boss replied every player will start with a clean slate when they return to training next month and insisted Joe cole is no different.

The 30-year-old spent last season on loan at French side Lille, scoring nine goals in 42 appearances.

“I met up with Joe Cole when I was in Spain,” said the boss.

“I certainly know he’s looking to come back. I’ve got to assess all the players.

“With the likes of Joe – he’s a very talented player. He’s obviously gone out to Lille and done very well and he has the opportunity to come back here and show his qualities.

“For me it’s fresh for everyone. I’ll be new into the club. Of course I know lots of the players and their qualities but Joe is obviously a player who’ll want to come back and show his worth to the group.

“There are a lot of players I’m aware of and they wouldn’t be at Liverpool if they didn’t have the qualities.

“I suppose going forward and over the course of pre-season I just need to decide the types of players who are going to fit into the function and the philosophy and the structure of the team.