Steven Gerrard has been forced to drop his transfer targets from Fernando Torres and Jermaine Defoe to Umar Sadiq, according to The Sun.
The Roma reserve scored five goals on loan at NAC Brenda last season as they finished 14th in the 18 team Dutch Eredivisie.
A month into the job Gerrard is discovering the differences between Dave King’s promises and the reality of a club that is almost wholly reliant on season ticket money and friendly loans from directors.
With pre-season training starting on Friday Gerrard is still waiting to pay his first transfer fee with only a loan deal for Liverpool reserve Ovia Ejaria signed by the England legend.
In the week after Gerrard was appointed he was linked with ambitious moves for Martin Skrtel, Defoe, Torres and Lucas Levia but there has been little appeal in taking a massive pay cut to work under a rookie manager going head-to-head with a proven success story.
Sadig played for Nigeria in the 2016 Olympics in Rio but has failed to score a single goal during loan spells at Bologna and Torino before being sent out to Brenda, effectively written off by the Champions League semi-finalists.