Liverpool chief exec Peter Moore says the club recognises the need to spend huge money on individual players.

The Reds have been linked with a €180m bid for Real Madrid midfielder Marcos Asensio.

And Moore told the Liverpool Echo: "We're in a world now where if you're not a £500m football team you're not going to win anything. And the ability for us to be able to stay up bluntly with the Manchester Uniteds and the Barcelonas and the PSGs and the Real Madrids, all of whom have slightly different business models, becomes critical, because if we don't stay up with them we don't compete.

"We are the proud owners of the world's most expensive defender in Virgil Van Dijk at £75m. But that money has got to come from somewhere. And being able to drive that growth becomes critical. Why? Because you invest in the team.

"Our primary focus for every pound, Euro, dollar we make is to give it to Jurgen Klopp and our scouting staff and our sporting director and say go buy the best players, go find the next Mohamed Salah.

"Go shore up the defence, which we did with Virgil Van Dijk. Go figure out how you can identify a player like we've just done with Naby Keita, buy him a year in advance, leave him in Germany, but now, as he shows up this week, is a Liverpool player.

"This doesn't come cheap. It's a high-stakes game. It requires revenue coming in all the time."