Blackpool are playing hardball with Liverpool over the move for Thomas Ince, with the club refusing to take the Anfield club's phone calls.

A move back for Ince, who left the club in the summer of 2011, has been mooted for quite a few months now, with several reports suggesting the talented youngster was finally on his way to Anfield.

However, Blackpool are taking a hard stance over the move, refusing to budge from their £7 million ($11 million) asking fee, with chairman Karl Oyston refusing to take any calls from Liverpool, according to the Daily Mirror.

The move for the 20-year-old has been on and off ever since the January transfer window opened, and Brendan Rodgers might now be tempted to abandon the deal and look for other recruits as the window heads to the final two weeks before closure.

Another player who might or might not be on his way is Modibo Diakite, with the Lazio defender waiting on Liverpool to make a concrete move for him.

Diakite has refused to sign a new contract at Lazio with his current deal set to expire at the end of the season. Rodgers has shown a keen interest in the 25-year-old, with preliminary talks over a move already taking place.

Liverpool might decide to come to a pre-contract agreement and officially sign him in the summer on a free transfer, but a January move with a nominal fee for Lazio involved has not been entirely ruled out.

Meanwhile, Liverpool director Ian Ayre has insisted pulling out of a £6 million deal for 29-year-old Clint Dempsey in the summer due to his age was the correct decision, and paying double that amount for Daniel Sturridge, who signed at the start of the window from Chelsea, makes more business sense.

"The issue came down to a particular deal and a particular price or structure to that deal," Ayre said. "And it wasn't right to do it.

"Likewise, the interest in certain other players wasn't right. Sometimes you have to be stronger for the greater good.

"People may feel they want to criticise the fact we didn't have an additional striker. But at what price would you sacrifice spending on something that is not in the long-term interests of the club versus what we just did, which was getting a great price on a great player in Daniel Sturridge?

"If we had spent that money in the summer, then we wouldn't have done that trade recently.

"It may have left us short, but the pieces just did not come together. We've come through that period now and I still feel it was the right decision."