Benitez attacks Liverpool over lack of funds
By Andy Hunter in Athens
Published: 25 May 2007
Disillusionment exceeded defeat in a European Cup final for Rafael Benitez yesterday as the Liverpool manager launched an extraordinary attack on the club and warned George Gillet and Tom Hicks his Anfield future rests on their largesse in this summer's transfer market.
Benitez was in no mood to curb the frustrations wrought by the loss to Milan in Athens, where Kaka-envy prompted an appeal to the club's American owners to invest in the expensive talent required for Champions League and Premiership success. Instead, he went much further; exposing a rift with chief executive Rick Parry by accusing Liverpool of prevaricating over transfers for three seasons, criticising the commercial arm of the club, challenging the sports tycoons to match the Glazers' spending at Manchester United - and all with the proviso that he has achieved as much as possible within the club's current financial framework.
By the standards of any leading manager it was a remarkable outburst but for Benitez, who has a history of confrontation with employers that belies his public persona and has spent £100m since his arrival from Valencia, this was a significant attack timed to capitalise on reaching a second European Cup final in three years and the Americans' first impending steps in the transfer market.
The Spaniard revealed that two "top class" signings in excess of £10m could be imminent at Liverpool - an outlay similar to his summer spending under the previous regime of David Moores - but what exists beyond that sum is uncertain yet liable to influence Benitez's stay on Merseyside.
"We must improve every department at the club, the sports and the business departments," he said. "If we don't change things right now and understand how crucial this moment is, we will waste one month, two months, two or three targets and then we'll start having to sign third-choice players and we'll have to be only contenders to be in the top four again. Nothing else.
"What do you want; to win the Premier League and the Champions League? The team that won the league this year spent £20m after winning the Premiership on one midfielder. Not a striker, £20m for a midfielder. Chelsea, Arsenal and United are spending money, big money, every year for the last five or 10 years. That means there is a big difference. We finished third with 82 points, a record for this club, but were nine points behind Chelsea. Now we've finished 21 points behind but reached the final of the Champions League because the work-rate of the team is fantastic and it is a knock-out competition. But we cannot keep the team for nine months at this level.
"We have some targets, cheaper [than £20m] but top-class players. We have one or two clear options and we must say: 'Sign him'. We can sign top-class targets for €15m to €20m (£10m-£13m) right now. Maybe we didn't have enough money in the past but now we have new owners who can invest £400m in the club. They want a new stadium full of people. Finishing 21 points behind United is something that, as a manager, you cannot understand. We need to do better things."
Benitez has never been afraid to challenge a club's hierarchy - he fell out with the then technical director Jorge Valdano at Real Madrid over interference in youth team selection and left Valencia because of financial restraints - and, worryingly for Liverpool, he compared his dilemma to that which drove him from the Mestalla in 2004.
"At Valencia we won the league for the first time in 31 years, but decided not to improve and we were fifth the next season," he said. "They thought we were winners and didn't need to sign anyone. It is the situation I am watching here in the last few years. They say we are close but we are not close."
Liverpool are at a critical juncture in their relationship with a manager who has won the European Cup and FA Cup in three seasons but is no closer to delivering the League than his predecessor, Gérard Houllier, and Benitez said he would no longer tolerate the hesitancy that has cost him high-calibre signings. In a loaded comment for Parry, whose position at the club may not be as secure as it appeared when the Americans assumed control in February, he said: "I am saying all this because, after three years' hard work, we have not progressed enough. I have confidence in the Americans because they say they will back me, but I want to see things happen now. There are issues that we need to resolve. We talk and talk but we never finish. I am worried about talking to players for six months, and then losing them."
Benitez confirmed that Bolo Zenden would be allowed to leave on a free transfer and Mark Gonzalez is close to a return to Spain with Real Betis. The release of two left midfielders may keep Harry Kewell at Liverpool for the final 12-months of his contract while, having started in Athens, Xabi Alonso is now inclined to stay.
http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/european/article2581119.ece***********************************************************************
It seems Rafa doesn't want anymore dithering in the transfer market.
Remember Simao, Alves, Vidic?
