Liverpool took a lot of heat for failing to land Clint Dempsey on the final day of the summer transfer window, so much so that American owner John Henry felt compelled to address Liverpool fans.

"I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strike force in this summer transfer window, but that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved," said Henry, whose Fenway Sports Group owns Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox. "They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in."

Henry insisted Liverpool was not cutting back on transfer spending even though it failed to meet the $9.6 million price tag Tottenham paid for Dempsey. "The transfer policy was not about cutting costs. It was -- and will be in the future -- about getting maximum value for what is spent so that we can build quality and depth," he continued. "Spending is not merely about buying talent. Our ambitions do not lie in cementing a mid-table place with expensive, short-term quick fixes that will only contribute for a couple of years."

Reds manager Brendan Rodgers even voiced displeasure that the club loaned out striker Andy Carroll to West Ham without finding a replacement. But Henry termed Liverpool's wheeling and dealing a success.  "A summer window which brought in three young, but significantly talented starters in Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Fabio Borini as well as two exciting young potential stars of the future -- Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi -- could hardly be deemed a failure as we build for the future."