Paul Walker
Friday April 6, 2007
The Guardian
Rafael Benítez wants new contracts sorted out for Liverpool's players before the end of the season. With other clubs hovering, he has already discussed the situation with the new owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. At the top of Benítez's list are Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Jamie Carragher.
It was initially believed that Liverpool's manager would tackle the contract problems in the summer and resolve them by the beginning of next season. But now he has indicated he wants players to sign before the current campaign is over.
Benítez clearly wants the current squad satisfied before he embarks on his summer spending, having been promised substantial funds by the new owners, although his only words on the subject at present are: "We are talking now to the players."
He is also preparing his summer shopping list and significantly he did not rule out a move for the Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, who this week has gone on record as saying he would love to play alongside Gerrard. Benitez said: "Samuel is very clever, normally everyone wants to play alongside Steven [Gerrard] or Xabi [Alonso]. But we can talk about players in the next few months. It is just speculation; at the moment it means nothing."
Benítez said that Fabio Aurelio's operation to repair his damaged Achilles tendon took place yesterday and was a success. He is expected to be back in action for pre-season training.
Benitez keen to sort new contracts for key players
By Paul Walker
Published: 06 April 2007
The Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, wants new contracts sorted out for his leading players before the end of the season.
The Spaniard has already discussed the situation with the club's new owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, and top of his list are his captain, Steven Gerrard, the Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso and the key defender Jamie Carragher.
It was initially believed that Benitez saw solving the contracts issue as a major job for the summer to be completed by the beginning of next season. But now he has indicated he wants players to re-sign before the end of the current campaign.
It is the urgency on Benitez's part to complete the deals that comes as a surprise. The Spaniard wants the current squad sorted before he starts his summer spending, having been promised substantial funds by Gillett and Hicks, although his only words on the subject are: "We are talking now to the players."
Under new Fifa rules, players can buy themselves out of the final year of their contracts, which could result in Alonso being free to leave in the summer and Gerrard and Carragher in the next two years.
Other players are also likely to be involved in new discussions, including Jose Reina. The goalkeeper said in an interview in yesterday's Liverpool Echo: "We will be speaking to the new owners over the next few days, but I've said many times now I'm really happy at Liverpool and I want to extend my contract."
Benitez did not rule out a move for Barcelona's striker Samuel Eto'o, who this week said he would love to play alongside Gerrard.
Benitez has revealed that the left-back Fabio Aurelio had a successful operation to repair his damaged Achilles tendon on Wednesday. "He will be fit for the pre-season," Benitez said. "He had an operation and it was really good."
Benítez desperate to secure the future of familiar names
James Ducker
It was easy to forget, amid all the talk this week of whom Rafael Benítez might try to sign in the summer, that Liverpool have several players they need to keep and, as the manager intimated yesterday, tying some of those to new contracts will be as important as the arrival of new faces.
Having been given the assurances he wanted during a four-hour meeting with George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, Liverpool’s new owners, on Sunday, Benítez has begun contract negotiations with several players and is hopeful of reaching agreement in some cases before the end of the season.
How realistic that aim is remains to be seen but while some discussions, such as those involving Steven Gerrard, the captain, and Xabi Alonso, the Spain midfield player, are likely to drag on into the summer, BenÍtez is confident that other deals can be concluded relatively quickly.
Chief among those are Jamie Carragher, the England defender, and José Manuel Reina, the Spain goalkeeper, while Steve Finnan, the Ireland defender who has a year remaining on his existing deal, is also expected to be given another contract.
The position of Luis GarcÍa, the Spain forward, is less clear, however. “We are talking now to the players,” Benítez said. “We are looking to do something before the end of the season with some of the players.”
If there is a sense of urgency in Benítez, it is born not just from the fact that a number of clubs have already made overtures for his players but also because of a clause in Fifa-adopted European Union law that allows players to buy out their contracts.
Under Article 17 of the world governing body’s rules, GarcÍa and Alonso will be allowed to leave the club in the summer, having both served three years of four and five-year contracts respectively that they signed in August 2004 when under the age of 28.
Gerrard, Carragher and Reina would be able to buy out their contracts under the same terms next summer, having all agreed four-year deals in July 2005. While it is unlikely to come to that, Benítez is not prepared to take any chances, although the manager will have been encouraged by yesterday’s comments from Reina, who is almost certain to sign an improved deal in the face of firm interest from Valencia.
Alonso, similarly, is expected to reject the overtures of Barcelona and Real Madrid in favour of signing a new four or five-year deal at Anfield worth about £70,000 a week.
“We will be speaking to the new owners over the next few days, but I’ve said many times now I’m really happy at Liverpool and I wanted to extend my contract,” Reina said. “The key for any growing team is not only to improve with new players, but also to make sure the key players and the spine of the side stays together. Then you can build an even stronger team around this. That spine is here at Liverpool.”
After the resounding 3-0 Champions League quarter-final, first-leg victory away to PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday, Liverpool travel to Reading tomorrow before the return leg against the Dutch league leaders at Anfield on Wednesday with BenÍtez confident that his team are peaking at just the right time.
“We have enough confidence to beat anyone,” he said. “In terms of the results, the last week has been really good. The problem we had at the beginning of the season was the World Cup and the international breaks.
“All those things together, along with some difficult games away, could explain some defeats, but now we will try to keep the momentum we have. I think we are really fit because we have changed players and are close to the end of the season, and when you are and can still win trophies, the extra motivation can always help.”
The only one I would begrudgingly accept is King Kenny.
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