Source: Team_Talk
Kuyt: We must get back in top four
Dirk Kuyt says it is crucial Liverpool get themselves back in the Champions League within a year of missing out on a top-four spot.[LNB] Their seventh-placed Premier League finish in the season just completed was the Reds' worst for 11 years, and their failure to progress from the group stages of the Champions League means Anfield will have a long wait before again playing host to Europe's elite club competition.[LNB]While that could damage the club's efforts to attract top-quality players, Kuyt feels the Merseysiders are still an attractive proposition - providing they make a swift return to the Premier League's top four next season.[LNB]"Liverpool is a massive club. It's very disappointing that we don't have the Champions League because, up until last season, we had done so well in the competition," said the Holland international.[LNB]"But this is what has happened. We have just got to make sure that we will be right back in it next year.[LNB]"Players who want to play in the Champions League would like Liverpool.[LNB]"We just have to make sure that we will back in it within one year."[LNB]Financial restrictions mean Liverpool are unlikely to be able to compete with their big-spending rivals this summer.[LNB]Figures released last week showed the debt of parent company Kop Holdings, set up by co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, rose to £351million by July last year.[LNB]That was on the back of a relatively successful campaign which saw the club run Manchester United a close second in the Premier League and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.[LNB]With a new buyer not anticipated to be in place before the start of next season, the financial situation is unlikely to have improved 12 months on.[LNB]But Kuyt is hopeful manager Rafael Benitez will be able to bring in the necessary additions - while also hanging on to Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard - to give them a chance of competing for the Champions League and domestic silverware.[LNB]"If we can buy a few more players, I think we will be really close to winning trophies again," the 29-year-old Dutchman told the Liverpool Echo.[LNB]"There were times this season when we didn't play well and conceded last-minute goals but we were also really unlucky, when you think of the beach ball (which contributed to a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland) and the injuries we had.[LNB]"Fernando was a huge miss in particular. Last season, it was the opposite and we were the ones scoring the last-minute goals. Everything was going our way then.[LNB]"We just need a little bit more luck and a bit more quality in the team. Everyone knows that.[LNB]"In the meantime, everyone who is here needs to work really hard to improve."[LNB]One player whose future at Liverpool remains in doubt is defender Fabio Aurelio.[LNB]The 30-year-old Brazilian has been injured for much of his time at the club since joining on a free transfer from Benitez's former side Valencia in July 2006.[LNB]He missed the last two and a half months of the season with a thigh problem, a period when Liverpool's defensive resources were stretched to the limit.[LNB]Aurelio is out of contract next month and, having already been linked with Olympiacos and with his injury record counting against him, he may not find a new deal forthcoming.
