MANCHESTER City striker Robbie Fowler agreed to rejoin former club Liverpool overnight on a free transfer until the end of the season.

The 30-year-old ex-England striker scored 120 goals in 210 league appearances in nine years for his hometown club during his first spell at Anfield before joining Leeds for ?11 million in November 2001.

Fowler moved to City for ?6 million in January 2003 but has not started a Premiership game this season under Stuart Pearce after missing the start of it with a back injury.

His return to Anfield will provide manager Rafael Benitez with an extra cutting edge up front as Liverpool gear up for the continuing defence of their Champions League title.

Peter Crouch, Fernando Morientes and Djibril Cisse are currently the first-choice strikers but Cisse has often been linked with a move to Marseille.

"My idea is for Liverpool to take one step forward and I think Robbie can help us make that step," Benitez said on the club website.

"We have signed a player with so much passion for this football club and I think he will act as an example to every player here in how much he loves Liverpool.

"It is a boost for the team, a boost for the supporters and a boost for Robbie himself. I'm not sure I've ever seen a player quite so happy to be joining a club before.

"I think it's a signing that will lift everyone who loves Liverpool Football Club because Robbie is a great finisher who can help us reach a new level.

"He hasn't been signed because he loves the club; he's been signed because he's one of the best goalscorers ever to play in the Premiership and he can score goals for us right now.

"He's got a wealth of experience and he gives us more attacking options. He's a different kind of striker to what we have at the club and that is good for the team.

"People can talk about having a lot of money to buy players but we have signed a player with a passion and a heart for this club that no amount of money can buy. We are close to a very high level right now but with Robbie we can go even higher."

City manager Stuart Pearce said it would have been wrong for City to have stood in Fowler's way.

"Liverpool are his dream club and he wanted to leave and rejoin them," Pearce told the club's official website.

"If I refused him this opportunity of fulfilling his ambition it would not be good for him or Manchester City.

"We wish him well for the future and thank him for his efforts."