Standard Chartered, the bank that sponsors Liverpool, wants the club to bring in high-profile Asian players.

“The real power for what Liverpool could do for us, and I think for the English Premier League, is if there was a way they could nurture foreign players from Asia … a great Asian player -- you see what Park Ji Sung does for Manchester United,” Standard Chartered executive Gavin Laws said.

“The markets in Asia and the Middle East are so nationalistic, they are very proud about their countries. (Matches) become huge events. One appearance from a player, say from Dubai in the Premier League, and you’d have the whole of Dubai watching it.”

“The market is saturated in Europe with so many clubs, how many more merchandise sales are they going to create over the next 10 years?” Laws said. “If the clubs want to do merchandise sales going at an exponential rate you’ve got to be in China, you’ve got to be in Korea, really getting all the people excited about the game."