Ruud van Nistelrooy is reportedly set to decline a transfer to Arsenal in favour of becoming a possible saviour to Liverpool’s season.

Van Nistelrooy is looking for a way out of Real Madrid in a  bid to secure regular playing time as he attempts to make the Holland World Cup squad. He has been rumoured to have been given the green light to search for a new club by Real.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has close to no funds to upgrade his squad, and has to either sell to raise the necessary funds, or make a loan to tide his side through their current crisis.

The Spaniard has been told that his career at Anfield is safe, even after crashing out of the Champions League this Tuesday.

Benitez has also been informed that Van Nistelrooy is keen to turn down the Gunners in favour of Liverpool.

Liverpool's budget constraints mean that they cannot spend on players until the offseason, when Benitez will have a war chest of at least £20 million to acquire reinforcements.

However, the Kop boss does have a gaping hole in his squad at the moment - a need for a striker after the Reds managed a meagre four goals in their five Champions League outings recently, a total that is dismal considering they have played Debrecen twice.

Enter Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

The Dutchman has already listened to the pitch from the Gunners, but has instructed his agent to look out for offers from the north west of England, with a move to Merseyside the most favoured choice of all.

Van Nistelrooy is well aware that he must turn out regularly for a club if he is to play for Holland in next year's World Cup final. The forward is rooted to the bench at the Bernabeu, where he is behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Kaka, Gonzalo Higuain and Raul in Los Merengues' hierarchy.

The veteran hitman will get his chance behind the injury-prone Fernando Torres at Liverpool, and Benitez is now considering whether to bring in the striker to give his frontline a much-needed boost.

The Liverpool manager does not have the resources for a mega-money acquisition, but he has been given the option of selling Andrei Voronin, Ryan Babel and Andrea Dossena to raise some funds for bargain buys.

The thing is, Voronin, Babel and Dossena aren't really the best thing since sliced bread at the moment, and will be difficult to dump with their lacklustre play of late.

Benitez may, however, be inclined to loan out the three players, to reduce the Liverpool wage total enough to bring in a useful loanee till the end of the season.

Real may be persuaded to accept a loan deal for Van Nistelrooy, or Rafael van der Vaart for that matter, and Tottenham will be looking to pawn of their Russian striker, Roman Pavlyuchenko, if a future fee can be agreed upon.

In the meantime, Benitez will have to hope that Torres returns in time for the Merseyside Derby this weekend, a game he must win to quell the dissenting voices in the Anfield faithful, even for a moment.

The former Valencia coach knows that owner backing and the vote of confidence from managing director Christian Purslow will be useless if he loses the support of the average fan.

A defeat against Everton will seal the Spaniard's fate after a dismal European campaign and a mediocre Premier League season so far. A loss to their cross-city rivals will surely turn the supporters against the current Anfield setup.

The dissenting voices have gained volume in the past few weeks, and Benitez has been jeered at twice this season at Anfield. Anything less than a win at Goodison Park will throw a huge wrench into the delicate situation of the Liverpool manager's stay at Anfield.

There is a silver lining in all this though, as Torres is close to a return from an adductor problem, and has taken part in training after missing the trip to Hungary. Benitez is reportedly optimistic that his first choice striker will be back for the derby showdown against Everton this Sunday.