George Gillett Jr has revealed that his relationship with Tom Hicks, his co-owner at Liverpool, has improved in recent weeks, but doubts persist about how long their troubled partnership at Anfield will survive as they struggle to find funds for Rafael Benítez, the club's manager, to strengthen his squad this summer.

In his first interview since late March, when he described his partnership with Hicks as “unworkable”, Gillett, the owner of the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey franchise, said that communication between the two men and their families has “substantially improved” for the good of Liverpool, but sources have suggested that their rapprochement does not extend to a shared vision about taking the club forward together. Both have realised that it would be counter-productive to allow their rift to continue, but Gillett remains opposed to the idea of allowing Hicks to buy his 50 per cent stake in the club if and when the time comes to sell up.

Speaking in an interview with a Canadian radio station, Gillett said: “It's fair to say that communication between the Hicks and the Gilletts has been substantially improved. Time is a healer and there were things that had happened previously. It took a while for both of us to realise that we weren't communicating very well and the huge responsibility we have to the fans to do the right thing for the club. All of us are focused on the transfer window and we want to be ready for that, and we want to have adequate resources and good communication with Rafa [Benítez]. Our hope is that we're making better progress.”

Despite a newfound sense of harmony in the club's boardroom, though, the owners are struggling to provide Benítez with funds in the transfer market and have instead told him that he must generate money by selling players. Although the club have secured deals to sign two full backs, Philipp Degen on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund and Andrea Dossena from Udinese for £7 million, and are hopeful of agreeing a fee in the region of £17 million to sign Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, those deals will broadly be financed by the sale of John Arne Riise to AS Roma for £4 million and the proposed transfer of Xabi Alonso to Juventus for £16 million.

Benítez hopes to raise a further £25million by selling players such as Scott Carson, Charles Itandje, Jermaine Pennant, Peter Crouch and Danny Guthrie, but, although the money would be reinvested in the squad, there is little expectation of any big-money signings beyond Barry. The Valencia duo of David Silva, the midfield player, and David Villa, the forward, who would be on Benítez's wish list in an ideal world, are both thought to be out of his price range as he instead looks at players such as James Milner, the Newcastle United midfield player, whom the Tyneside club value at about £9 million.