Emmanuel Adebayor’s on-off move to Tottenham Hotspur is finally expected to be concluded in the days ahead which will come as a blessed relief to most. Manchester City will be hugely relieved to get their £175,000-a-week deadwood forward off the pay-roll, a development that is widely anticipated to hasten their swoop for Robin van Persie. Spurs fans will be extremely glad to see the Togolese striker – who bagged 18 in 37 games for them last season – commit to the Lane after his successful loan spell. Especially considering they presently only have one senior front man to call upon in Jermaine Defoe.

Everybody else meanwhile will just be happy to see one of the most protracted transfers in recent times come to an end.

Yet there are a handful of individuals in Liverpool L4 who are watching the saga with close interest and hoping that once again the complicated deal falls through.

The Cutter can exclusively reveal that while the reds are desperately hoping to off-load their expensive flop Andy Carroll on loan they are also looking to replace him with a temporary target man of their own in the form of Adebayor.

Despite recently shelling out £10.5m for Roma’s Fabio Borini new gaffer Brendan Rodgers views the Togo international as an ideal one-season addition to his new-look squad; a player with the proven street-smarts and sublime skills to hold up play and compliment the pass and move around him. Furthermore his track record in the Premier League is imposing with 78 goals in 181 appearances and his presence will take a large amount of the expectation and pressure off the young Italian who Rodgers has high hopes for.

However, unlike Spurs, Liverpool are not interested in seeking a permanent deal for a player whose exorbitant wages has proven to be such a hindrance to him leaving the Etihad. Instead they are playing the long game and hoping that City’s desperation to be free of Adebayor will result in them reluctantly accepting a loan deal identical to the one that took him to the capital last summer.

City are offering their once prized player for a knockdown £5m and are even willing to subsidise a substantial percentage of his wages for the next two years to any party willing to take him. The player however is refusing to commit to the lower wage packet he will receive at Tottenham and should he continue to dig in his heels the move could yet implode.

Should this happen don’t be surprised if Liverpool then swoop in one of the surprise moves of the transfer window.

We have been led to believe that the possibility has already been broached during City’s second attempt this week to lure Liverpool stopper Daniel Agger up the M62. Indeed the weeks ahead could see a flurry of activity between the two clubs with Agger rumoured to be seriously pondering a move to the champions whilst Adam Johnson is reportedly on Liverpool’s wish-list.

Quite how these possible switches effects the Adebayor loan deal is anyone’s guess – if they will at all – but it’s fair to surmise that Liverpool and Manchester City’s moneymen will be well acquainted by mid-August.