According to today's media ... Liverpool hope to beat Arsenal and Newcastle to the signature of Ryan Babel after reportedly making a £6.75million bid.

And the news from the Toon camp is that they can rule Newcastle out of the running, because Sam Allardyce lost interest in the Ajax winger last week when James Milner signed a five year deal.

With Nobby Solano, Damien Duff, Charles N'Zogbia and Kieron Dyer also in his ranks, I'm sure there are other positions that Big Sam will concentrate on.

Rafael Benitez made an offer of around 10million euros for Babel on Sunday after the Dutchman impressed at the European Under-21 Championship last month.