Brendan Rodgers is convinced Liverpool can be a top four challenger next season.

The Northern Irishman left Swansea to take over from Kenny Dalglish last summer and has endured an up and down debut season.

"This year has provided a great learning curve for me and I look back and see that it was learning that I needed," Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo.

"I knew the expectancy of the club but, going into next season, I am a much better prepared manager for that.

"We want to make significant improvements next year in the points total because the reality is we are 30 points behind the leaders and 11 points behind the top four.

"But I've seen enough and, if we improve our mentality in the summer - by signing players who have that consistent winning mentality - we can then improve again, like we have done in the second half of the season.

"That's the job of the recruitment team and the club to identify those types of players."