Benitez intent on selling Baros as rivals join pursuit of Crouch

Middlesbrough, Charlton Athletic and Manchester City, keen to placate their manager, Stuart Pearce, and their supporters by reinvesting the £21m banked for Shaun Wright-Phillips in new talent, have all joined the pursuit of the England international, a long-standing target of the Liverpool manager who has had two bids, of £6m and £6.5m, rejected so far.

The developing auction will satisfy the Southampton chairman, Rupert Lowe, who is determined to hold out for £8m for a player signed for £2m from Aston Villa only 12 months ago but now determined to leave the relegated club in order to improve his prospects of taking part in next summer's World Cup.

The Southampton manager, Harry Redknapp, said last night: "Peter has been as good as gold. He is training hard and not letting things affect him. Obviously, I want him to keep him but it is not my decision, it will be a boardroom decision in the end."

Benitez believes Liverpool need the aerial presence of Crouch to rectify the alarming away form that produced 11 League defeats last season, although the Anfield boardroom is reluctant to sanction an £8m offer for the 24-year-old.

That position could soften, however, if Liverpool succeed in off-loading the Czech Republic striker Baros, who has been left in little doubt about his future role, or lack of one, under Benitez, before the second leg tie with TNS at Wrexham's Racecourse ground.

Liverpool landed at the city's John Lennon Airport last night from their Swiss training camp, where they will return immediately after tonight's game, with a stronger than expected squad, but without Baros and Jerzy Dudek, both of whom have been kept eligible for any potential suitor involved in European competition this season.

Baros was Liverpool's joint leading goalscorer last season with 13 goals, a total deemed unacceptable by their manager yesterday as he told his remaining strikers to make a vast improvement against the Welsh Premier League side.

Benitez said: "Last season our top goalscorers scored 13 goals and that isn't enough. The strikers always need to score more than 13 goals, but I am confident that if we have better possession of the ball this season and play better football they will have more chances.

"We had a lot of problems last season with injuries to strikers, but I am sure it will be different this year. It's like we have signed some new players because they are all fit again now.

"The competition between the strikers will be better, too. We can use Fernando Morientes in the Champions' League this season. We also have Luis Garcia to come back, [Djibril] Cissé who can operate on the right and Harry Kewell can play in two or three different positions when he is fit."

The Liverpool manager, who is likely to start with several leading names on the bench tonight, added: "Even though we're three goals up we want to name a strong side because we don't want any surprises. "

Barring an astonishing upset, Liverpool will face either FBK Kaunas, of Lithuania, or HB Torohavn, of the Faroe Islands, in the second qualifying round, with the Lithuanians taking a 4-2 first-leg lead into this evening's home leg.

TNS Llansantffraid (probable, 4-4-2): Doherty; Baker, Jackson, Evans, King; Wood, Naylor, Holmes, Ward; Lloyd-Williams, Wilde.

Liverpool (probable, 4-4-2): Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Whitbread, Riise; Potter, Alonso, Hamann, Zenden; Le Tallec, Cissé.