The sale of Paul Ince will be sanctioned by Liverpool's manager Gerard Houllier as the Frenchman begins the task of rejuvenating the squad he has inherited at Anfield.

Having missed out on one combative midfielder yesterday, when David Batty's move between Newcastle and Leeds was all but ratified, the new manager of Tottenham, George Graham, will no doubt be pleasantly surprised to learn that an offer of around £3.5 million would probably be sufficient to land another in Ince.

Although Houllier regards the 31-year-old Ince as a key member of his team, he would definitely not stand in his way were Tottenham to make official what is a long-standing interest.

Ince joined Liverpool from Inter Milan in a £4.2million deal 18 months ago, but has been bedevilled by inconsistency and disciplinary problems.

Houllier is already planning for the future and to that end has pencilled in the Croatia winger Silvio Maric as the natural successor to Ince's England's colleague Steve McManaman. Houllier now accepts that McManaman will leave Anfield in a Bosman-dictated free transfer next summer.

Batty underwent a medical yesterday after Leeds and Newcastle agreed a fee of around £4.4 million for the England midfielder to rejoin his hometown club. Batty will put pen to paper today.

Batty will become David O'Leary's first major signing since he took over as Leeds manager on October 25th.