Ruud van Nistelrooy is again being touted for a move to Liverpool, possibly on loan in January, as he continues to be frustrated by a lack of first team action at Real Madrid.

The 33-year-old is desperate to leave Los Blancos in search of more playing minutes in a bid to stake his claim for a place in Bert van Marwijk's Dutch squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer.

It has previously been speculated that the former Manchester United star could be on his way back to England with either Tottenham, Blackburn or Arsenal, but he has apparently made it clear that Anfield is his first choice.

The Daily Telegraph claims that Rafa Benitez is ready to turf out the likes of Andrei Voronin and Andrea Dossena in order to clear a space in the club's wage bill so that the Dutchman can be signed in January, possibly initially on loan.

As a short term fix, Rafa could do worse than signing a man who has been three-time UEFA Champions League top-scorer, considering Liverpool have managed just four goals in their lamentable European campaign thus far.

However, with his continued insistence of playing only one up-front, surely van Nistelrooy should consider whether the move would be wise, especially given that Fernanado Torres is never going to be anything but first choice.

That may be a risk the Dutch hitman is willing to take though, he would certainly play more games at Anfield than he has managed with Real, where the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Gonzalo Higuain, Raul and Karim Benzema are all favoured picks.

Quite how Manchester United fans would feel about their former hero, who scored 150 goals in just 220 appearances for the club during a five year stay at Old Trafford, joining their most hated rivals needs only one guess.