Houllier wants Litmanen to stay

Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier admits to being “selfish” when he insists he wants Jari Litmanen to stay at Anfield.

Turkish giants Galatasaray have been given permission to speak to the Finnish star before the transfer window closes at the end of the week.

Litmanen, 31, who turned down a summer move back to one of his former clubs Ajax because he did not think the wages offered were enough, could now have played his last game for Liverpool.

But Houllier claims: “He’s a good professional, if he stays I am quite happy.

“It’s selfish I know, but I would prefer him to stay because he’s another option – but we have given permission for Galatasaray to speak to Jari.

“At the end of last season he said he wanted to leave because he was not getting games, and we accepted that particularly for someone of his age because he needed to play more.

“Jari hasn’t emptied his locker as has been suggested. All we have done is give Galatasaray permission to speak to the player. That’s all I know at the moment.”

Houllier has also refused to be drawn into a war of words with Blackburn boss Graeme Souness over the Damian Duff situation.

Souness claims the Anfield outfit did make an offer for the player in the past fortnight but “it was half what we wanted."

On the eve of Liverpool’s trip to Ewood Park, Houllier said: “I don’t want to be drawn into any kind of comment on Damian Duff, or any transfer speculation.

“There is a game now and I aim to respect that and the ethics of the game so I don’t want to talk about anything like that.”