Money no object as Benítez is given a green light to spend
Rafael Benítez will be given every opportunity to compete with Manchester United and Chelsea in the transfer market this summer after the Liverpool manager was effectively told that money would be no object in his attempt to build a team to win the Premiership.
While George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, Liverpool’s new owners, are not prepared to sanction a Roman Abramovich-style approach to spending, the American tycoons have indicated to Benítez that sufficient funds will be in place to enable him to vie for the biggest names in world football for the first time since he moved to Anfield in June 2004.
Those assurances alone, which formed the basis of a productive meeting between Benítez and Gillett and Hicks on Sunday, should be enough to persuade the manager to reject the overtures of Real Madrid, who have identified the Spaniard as the leading candidate to replace Fabio Capello as coach in the summer.
“For me, the future of the club is brilliant,” Benítez said yesterday. “They [Gillett and Hicks] said that we will go in the right direction.”
Benítez flashed the broadest of smiles as he flew to the Netherlands yesterday morning for the first leg of Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final tie against PSV Eindhoven this evening, and it was easy to understand why. He is known to have grown frustrated at having to operate within the sort of financial constraints that are alien to Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, and José Mourinho, his Chelsea counterpart.
Benítez, for example, was able to sign Dirk Kuyt, the Holland forward, from Feyenoord last summer only after David Moores, the former chairman, agreed to dip into his own pocket to help to fund the £9 million deal. Having finally been granted his wish for a transfer budget to rival that of United and Chelsea, the Spaniard will, in turn, be expected to mount a serious challenge for the league title next season.
Trailing the leaders by 21 points with five weeks of the season remaining, as Liverpool do United at the moment, will no longer be acceptable as Gillett and Hicks look for an immediate return on their investment, which includes the creation of a new £215 million, 60,000-seat stadium in Stanley Park, the construction of which will begin at the end of July, it was announced yesterday.
Having been given the green light to make a “superstar” signing, Benítez may turn his attention to David Villa, the £25 million-rated Valencia and Spain forward, who is also attracting attention from Chelsea.
With the Barclays Premiership champions likely to be spending heavily in the summer, and with Ferguson expected to be armed with a transfer budget in the region of £40 million, there could be a three-way tussle between Liverpool, Chelsea and United for players, with Arsenal in danger of being left as the poor relations.
Of more immediate concern to Benítez, however, is plotting Liverpool’s path to the Champions League semi-finals for the second time in three seasons. PSV are probably the weakest team in the last eight, but given Ronald Koeman’s impressive record against English opposition in the Champions League over the past two seasons, Benítez has warned his players not to be complacent.
The PSV coach was in charge of Benfica when the Portuguese team knocked United and Liverpool out last season, and last month the Dutchman engineered a 2-1 aggregate win over Arsenal.
However, with the hero of that triumph, Alex, the Brazil defender who is on loan from Chelsea, missing with a hamstring injury and Arouna Koné, the Ivory Coast striker, unlikely to feature because of a knee problem, the odds favour Liverpool, for whom Javier Mascherano is expected to continue in midfield in place of the suspended Mohamed Sissoko.
PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool
Quarter-final, first leg, Philips Stadium. Live on ITV1, from 7.30pm (kick-off 7.45pm)
KEY CLASH
Phillip Cocu v Javier Mascherano
In a team short on superstars, Cocu is arguably the best known of PSV’s players and the former Barcelona man is certain to provide a greater test of Mascherano’s destructive abilities than a distinctly below-par Cesc Fàbregas did during Arsenal’s 4-1 defeat by Liverpool on Saturday. A dynamic, versatile player, Cocu provides the creative fulcrum of PSV’s midfield and Mascherano will have to be at his best to prevent the veteran Holland midfield player from dictating the play as he likes to do
Interesting, no?
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