Defour became one of the hottest properties in Europe a year ago, with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Everton, Juventus and Real Madrid all monitoring his progress.

But a serious foot injury ruled him out for much of the previous campaign, prompting United boss Sir Alex Ferguson to write to him to offer a personal good luck message.

Now he is back in action, and Hodgson is prepared to bid up to £12million to steal a march on his rivals and bring the 22-year-old to Anfield to fill the void that will be left by Mascherano’s departure.

The Argentina skipper has been in talks with Inter Milan and has told the club he wants to go.

Hodgson bluntly spelt out to the midfielder that he will leave on Liverpool’s terms, which means the Merseyside club lining up a replacement first.

And he sees Defour as filling that role, as a dynamic box-to-box player who can give the Reds a more attacking air.

Hodgson has scoured Europe for a suitable replacement for Mascherano, and has made enquiries with Juventus about Christian Poulsen, with the Italian club’s director Giuseppe Marotta yesterday revealing an approach.

The new manager has also shown interest in West Ham’s Scott Parker, but with the London club insisting he will not be sold under any circumstances, and with Hodgson ruling out a move for Villa’s Stilyan Petrov, Defour tops his list.

Hodgson has explored a number of options, most notably Maynor Figueroa, Wigan Athletic’s Honduran international.However, the pursuit of Figueroa has been complicated by a number of factors – notably the fee it would take to prise him away from the DW Stadium – and the fact that Liverpool’s quota of homegrown players is low.Former England international Konchesky, 29, who scored for West Ham against the Reds in the 2006 FA Cup final, played under Hodgson at Craven Cottage and if Liverpool are able to thrash out a deal, the fee could eventually rise to £5million.

David Ngog got the Roy Hodgson era off to the perfect start as Liverpool secured a 2-0 win over FK Rabotnicki in the Europa League third qualifying round on Thursday night.

The French star netted a clinical brace as the Reds produced a mature performance to ensure they will head into next week’s second-leg in the driving seat.

Liverpool’s No.10 will play some part of the match which is a repeat of the 1977 European Cup final.

The Reds boss also confirmed Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher will also be given their first outing of pre-season.

“Yes they will be involved,” Hodgson told Liverpoolfc.tv.“It’s a friendly game so I can control the amount of time they play.

“In competitive games we only have three substitutes to use, so it’s very dangerous to put players on the field who don’t have 90 minutes in their legs.”

The former England star was also not keen on moving to Merseyside with no guarantee that he would see any more first team action than at Villa Park.

Young made just 14 Premier League starts last season but still has three years of his contract to run. Liverpool’s offer, believed to be in the region of £37,000 a week, made no financial to the 31-year-old who cost Villa £5m from Middlesbrough in 2008. But it is not only new Kop boss Hodgson who has been upset by Young’s decision as Villa manager Martin O’Neill also wanted to cut his wage bill.

Out-of-favour stars like Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell, Nicky Shorey, Habib Beye and Young are collectively earning around £1m a month, preventing O’Neill from making any new signings.

Young now finds himself in contention for the Guadiana Cup in Portugal this weekend, after travelling with the Villa squad on Wednesday.

But he is believed to be holding out for a move to either Fulham or West Ham, though his wages are understood to be a major problem for both clubs.

Reo-Coker also wants to quit while Sidwell is a £2m target for Fulham – but Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov has pleaded with the pair to stay.

He said: “They have showed that they’ve got a very good attitude.

“Even when they weren’t playing. Every time when the manager picked them to play they tried their best and he knows that.

“We would love them to stay because they’re good players, but the manager has a different opinion.

“The manager is trying to bring in new faces and to let some people go.

“But even if we stay the way we are, we have still got a team to compete because every player in our team is a good player. Some people may leave and other people will come in.

“It’s hard to see when you’ve played with somebody for three or four years and you’ve gone through a lot of hard work all that time to see them leaving, but that’s the way football goes.”

The Spaniard has inked a four-year contract with Olympiakos, ending his two-year stay at Anfield, for a fee in the region of £5million.

Riera joined the Reds from Espanyol in 2008 for a fee of £8million and went on to make 40 league appearances, scoring three goals.

Last season, Riera fell out-of-favour with then-manager Rafa Benitez, with his last appearance for Liverpool coming in March.

“Olympiakos announce the acquisition of Liverpool’s Spanish international Albert Riera,” read a statement from the Greek club.

“The player has signed a four-year agreement.”

Sky Sports News revealed earlier on Tuesday that Liverpool were in advanced stages of discussions with Rangers, with only the transfer fee left to agree on. And the Ibrox club has now confirmed that Reds are set to complete the transfer after the youngster was pulled out of the Rangers squad that flew out to Australia for their pre-season tour on Tuesday.

“We have agreed a deal in principle with Liverpool for the transfer of Danny Wilson,” said Rangers chief executive Martin Bain on the club’s official website.

“Liverpool’s offer will see the club receive £2million up front with add-ons linked to games played, taking the total value of the deal to £5million.”

The deal could be completed on Tuesday night, which would allow Wilson to join up with Reds at their training camp in Switzerland.

Rangers had expected Wilson to exit the Scottish club after the defender turned down a new contract offer.

“Danny was entering the final year of his contract with the club and had indicated that he felt it was in his interests to move on,” added Bain, who oversaw the £2million sale of midfielder Kevin Thomson to Middlesbrough last week.

“Given that and the value of the offer from Liverpool, it was deemed appropriate to accept that offer given the player wanted to go.

“We are aware that with Kevin Thomson and Danny leaving the club in the last week that there is a need to add to the first team squad.

“Our efforts remain focused on doing that during this transfer window.

“We have been active in that regard with the resources that we have and we do recognise that we have to add to a squad that is light in numbers.”

The 28-year-old England midfielder left Stamford Bridge in June after failing to agree a new contract with the Premier League champions.

Cole was also linked with Arsenal and Tottenham but has opted for Liverpool, who are in next season’s Europa League.

He is likely to be seen as a direct replacement for Yossi Benayoun, who joined Chelsea in July.

Cole is the second summer arrival at Anfield after Serbia forward Milan Jovanovic joined following the expiration of his contract with Standard Liege.

Fiorentina have been heavily linked with a move for the left-back in recent weeks and an offer, reported to be in the region of £5million, has now been accepted.

Liverpool have confirmed that the Argentine has left the club’s pre-season training camp to discuss a switch to Serie A.

A club spokesman said: “We have agreed a fee for the sale of Emiliano Insua to Fiorentina and given them permission to speak with the player.

“Emiliano has now left our Swiss training camp and we’ll make further comment when appropriate.”

Insua made 31 appearances in the Premier League for the Reds last season and has featured a total of 62 times since his arrival from Boca Juniors in 2007.

New Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson is now likely to be in the market for a left-back after Fabio Aurelio left Anfield at the end of last season.

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s opening pre-season friendly against Al-Hilal in Austria has been called off due to a waterlogged pitch.

Several pitch inspections were conducted before the match was postponed, meaning Hodgson will have to wait until Wednesday’s fixture with Grasshoppers for his first match as Liverpool manager.

The Brazilian midfielder’s days at the club appeared numbered after Palermo confirmed they had made a £3million bid and indicated a willingness to increase it.

But, while left-back Emiliano Insua may still go to Fiorentina, Hodgson feels Lucas’ improved form last season has earned him a place in his squad for the coming campaign.

Lecce, meanwhile, have made a £1m bid for Liverpool Hungarian striker Krisztian Nemeth, 21. Flamengo have also joined the race to sign reserve keeper Diego Cavalieri. Santos and Corinthians are also interested.