Video: Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers: This is a long-term project

Brendan Rodgers admitted turning Liverpool into Premier League title challengers will be a long-term project after he was unveiled as the Reds’ new manager on Friday.

The 39-year-old has signed a three-year deal with Liverpool, with the club’s owners Fenway Sports Group believed to have paid £7m compensation to prise him away from Swansea City.

The Northern Irishman masterminded Swansea’s promotion to the Premier League for the first time in their history in 2011 and led the Welsh club to an 11th-place finish last term.

His biggest challenge at Anfield will be ending the Reds’ 22-year wait for a top-flight crown, something which Rodgers insisted will take time.

“Once I found out I was the number one target from the important people at Liverpool then it was a quite an easy decision,” said Rodgers.

“I’ve always said that if I left Swansea City, it would be for a top club. But I would have to be that number one choice. At that time [when Liverpool first approached Rodgers], I was in a process, so I was happy at Swansea and I wasn’t crying to leave.

“But obviously when Liverpool came back in the second time and said I was the number one choice, then of course you have to think seriously about it.

“I think overall this is a long-term project for me – to come into a project that’s going to be over a number of years.

“For me first and foremost, it’s to defend the principles of this great club, which is offensive football but with tactical discipline, and to retain the values of the club, that was the attraction, the history of the club.

“The realism is, we might not be ready for the title now, but the process begins today and that is a new cycle, and that is something we’ll work towards for years to come.”

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