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Liverpool fringe players could soon move on - Brendan Rodgers

LIVERPOOL -- Brendan Rodgers has indicated that he expects to move some of his Liverpool fringe players out before the transfer window closes on Sept. 1.

Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini and Jose Enrique have effectively been frozen out of Rodgers' squad, spending time training away from the first team.

Midfielder Lucas Leiva has also been told he can go, having been left on Merseyside when Liverpool opened the Premier League season with a 1-0 victory at Stoke last Sunday.

Manager Rodgers said: "There will be moves, I'm sure, for some players. I think what's clear is that every player knows exactly where he stands in the squad.

"The spirit's strong, the spirit's fine, but of course it's a difficult situation because the transfer window is still open until the end of this month.

"There's always going to be that speculation, but I'm sure there will be some movement of some of the players who want to play."

Italy strikers Balotelli and Borini were left out of all Liverpool's preseason games, as was Spanish left-back Enrique.

All three have been sidelined as Rodgers reshapes his squad following last season's failure to qualify for the Champions League.

Balotelli, 25, is only 12 months into the three-year deal he signed when joining Liverpool from AC Milan for £16 million last August.

He scored just four goals last season, while Borini, 24, has made only eight league starts since Rodgers bought him from Roma for £10.5m in 2012.

Enrique, 29, has not been selected since January and played just four times in the Premier League last season.

None of them will feature when Liverpool host promoted Bournemouth in the Premier League on Monday, but Joe Gomez is likely to.

The 18-year-old impressed at left-back against Stoke, making his debut against the experienced Jon Walters, and Rodgers said he had high hopes for the teenager.

He said: "He's got the flexibility and qualities to play at full-back. So he's definitely a player who will add great value to our squad.

"For a young player of 18 years of age to make his Premier League debut away at Stoke against an outstanding player in Jon Walters, with the experience that he has, and to cope as well as he did was excellent."

Rodgers employed a more direct style at Stoke, utilising the height of £32m summer signing Christian Benteke in attack.

But the manager said he was not about to abandon his principles, explaining: "I have an inherent belief in terms of that, but I'm not dogmatic in my approach.

"I'm very much about finding the ways to win, and finding the different solutions in a game.

"But the core principles and ideas are fundamentally the same, as is how I work, and that doesn't change."