Liverpool ready to raid Roma for wantaway striker

Liverpool are ready to offer Roma's wantaway striker Mirko Vucinic an escape route in January, according to reports in Italy.

Montenegro international Vucinic, 27, has reportedly clashed with Roma manager Claudio Ranieri in recent weeks and reacted badly to being substituted after only 57 minutes of the goalless draw against Parma at the weekend.

Vucinic, who recently hit the headlines with a bizarre goal celebration where he took his shorts off and put them on his head after scoring on international duty with Montenegro, is contracted to Roma until 2013.

He is currently valued at around £16.5m but reports in Italy have suggested that Vucinic is available for a cut-price £13m because he is unhappy, with Liverpool interested in the striker.

Reds boss Roy Hodgson has been short of options up front this season and is bidding to buy a forward in January to ease the burden on Fernando Torres.

Meanwhile, Hodgson has told Manchester United they can forget about signing goalkeeper Pepe Reina in the transfer window.

The Spanish stopper has been linked with a £12million move to Old Trafford but Hodgson insists the 28-year-old, who only signed a new six-year deal in April, is staying at Anfield.

He told the Liverpool Echo: "It was just one of those stories that seems to occur - it's just disappointing and annoying.

"Pepe is fantastic here, he is a lifeblood of this team. Everything he does around the club is excellent - he is always lively in the dressing room, he is always first class in training and he always wants to do more to improve.

"He demands better from those around him, he is always pushing people on. He is a player who we hold in the highest esteem.

"We have heard nothing from Manchester United and, more to the point, we don't want to hear anything from Manchester United.

"If (Sir Alex) Ferguson is looking around at the end of the season and he has got lots of money to replace (Edwin) van der Sar, he might very well want Pepe Reina because he is the best around.

"But we do not want to sell him. I would like to think that we are going to become a successful club once again and Pepe is crucial to that."