NESN.com: "Liverpool Looking To Acquire Tottenham Midfielder Niko Kranjcar"

After the Ashley Young story, here comes another speculative news about Liverpool's upcoming transfer window.  Just like the Villa star, Niko Kranjcar was also a transfer target of former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez; however, the transfer never went through.

Now, though, reports suggest that a transfer of the creative Croat to Liverpool may ultimately go through come January.

Niko Kranjcar was earlier involved in a shocking transfer move for a measly 2m GBP from Portsmouth to Tottenham Hotspur, late in the deadline day last summer. Although the move went through, Kranjcar never quite got the time on the pitch he needed to establish himself at the club.

Liverpool FC desperately need creativity in their midfield, and Kranjcar's areas of strength, which are his vision, close control, range of passing, set-piece prowess and his superb technique.

Besides this, Niko Kranjcar despite his lack of time on the pitch for his club and is a regular for his country, for whom he recently scored a brace against Norway.

Kranjčar was previously a part of the Croatian national Under-16, Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 teams before advancing to the senior national team. His senior debut for Croatia came on 18 August 2004 in a friendly match against Israel. He was a regular for Croatia during their qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup, making nine appearances and scoring two goals, including a brilliant single effort against Bulgaria.

Niko was then chosen for "Young guns firing for World Cup glory" on eurosport.com with some of the greatest talents in the world, such as Lionel Messi, Lukas Podolski and future Pompey team mate Sulley Muntari. He went on to play in all of Croatia's three group stage matches at the final tournament, proving to be a prestigious player for his impressive performances.

With Liverpool desperately needing players on the offensive, Niko Kranjcar, valued at 5-7m, could just be an ideal option, considering Liverpool went for much lower talents like Poulsen and Konchesky at such a cost this summer window.

All though most of these news regarding Liverpool transfer have been speculation like most other transfer rumors, the publishing of the news by New England Sports Network—a website linked to the new owners of the club, New England Sports Ventures—adds an altogether new impetus to the story.

Even though all NESN does is report from the Metro, a link which also gets mention on the club's official website, there have been scores of rumors in the past weeks. Even after the takeover materialized, the mention of this story may either signal the beginning of the end of Kranjcar's spell at White Hart Lane, where Harry Redknapp has already made clear that though he is Sorry but, Niko cannot be guaranteed a starting line up for the Spurs.

The news may also be considered as an active interest by the owners to involve in the club matters in the transfer market.

Roy Hodgson is thought to be very interested in the 26-year-old if a proper deal can be agreed upon.