Liverpool owner John W Henry has defended their summer market campaign. The board has been lambasted for not finding a replacement for Andy Carroll before Friday's deadline fell.

"I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strikeforce in this summer transfer window," said Henry in an open letter published on liverpoolfc.com.

"But that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved.

"They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in.

"But a summer window which brought in three young, but significantly talented starters in Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Fabio Borini as well as two exciting young potential stars of the future - Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi - could hardly be deemed a failure as we build for the future."