Sheikh Mohammed is ready to go it alone in his bid to buy Liverpool. The Mirror says the oil-rich Arab leader of Dubai has ditched DIC - the investment arm of his government - as the buy-out company he will use if he gets the chance to purchase the Anfield club from Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Instead, he will dip into his own wealth to get his hands on the Premier League outfit, with insiders suggesting that will allow him to invest far more money into Liverpool.

It's understood Hicks and Gillett are prepared to sell, but only at £300million above the Arab's valuation of around £450million.

Sheikh Mohammed's advisors though, feel that the Americans are in deep trouble because of the global credit crunch, and will be forced to sell unless there is a swift economic upturn.