RAFARGH!
By Simon Mullock 24/06/2007
LIVERPOOL'S American owners will call Rafa Benitez's bluff if the Kop boss attempts to use Real Madrid's impending search for a new coach as a threat to extract more transfer cash.
Benitez must fear the money being made available by George Gillett and Tom Hicks to reinforce his team is only a fraction of the £60million he indicated he would need to build a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League title.
With Real ready to launch a search for a coach to replace Fabio Capello - set for showdown talks with the Spanish champions tomorrow - there is concern inside Anfield that Benitez will feature prominently on the Bernabeu wish-list.
The Spaniard has twice before used interest from the club with which he launched his coaching career as political capital to get his own way at Liverpool.
But Yank duo Gillett and Hicks will not be railroaded into altering their financial plans for the club - regardless of Benitez's frustrations.
When questioned last night about Liverpool's inactivity in the transfer market, Hicks said: "I will not comment publicly on transfer business."
But after being priced out of moves to secure top strikers like Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Tevez or Fernando Torres, the two Liverpool owners are aware of Benitez's growing frustrations.
The 47-year-old refused to work under similar circumstances at Valencia, quitting the club three years ago after winning two La Liga titles and the UEFA Cup - safe in the knowledge that Liverpool wanted him to succeed Gerard Houllier.
Madrid's likely decision to part company with Capello, just a week after he reclaimed the Spanish title, will once again call into question the coach's future at Anfield.
Last summer, Benitez used interest from Real and Inter Milan to secure transfer funds from the club - and an improved contract. And within weeks of Gillett and Hicks completing their £450m buy-out of the Merseysiders he again indicated that a return to the Bernabeu was being mooted at the highest level of his former club.
The two Amercans, however, have not taken kindly to being publicly lambasted by an employee over their lack of knowledge about football's transfer market.
Benitez was being touted as a genuine successor to Capello earlier this year, with Chelsea's Jose Mourinho and Getafe's Bernd Schuster seemingly his only rivals for the biggest job in club football.
But that was when Madrid trailed Barcelona and Sevilla in La Liga, before a late-season surge claimed the championship on the last day of the season.
Capello's days at the Bernabeu still look numbered, with a decision expected in the next 48 hours.
Schuster is now the clear favourite to step in, with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, PSV Eindhoven's Ronald Koeman and former Bernabeu favourite Michael Laudrup also in the frame.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/sport/...8487-19348016/
Hope its just papertalk to be honest
By Simon Mullock 24/06/2007
LIVERPOOL'S American owners will call Rafa Benitez's bluff if the Kop boss attempts to use Real Madrid's impending search for a new coach as a threat to extract more transfer cash.
Benitez must fear the money being made available by George Gillett and Tom Hicks to reinforce his team is only a fraction of the £60million he indicated he would need to build a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League title.
With Real ready to launch a search for a coach to replace Fabio Capello - set for showdown talks with the Spanish champions tomorrow - there is concern inside Anfield that Benitez will feature prominently on the Bernabeu wish-list.
The Spaniard has twice before used interest from the club with which he launched his coaching career as political capital to get his own way at Liverpool.
But Yank duo Gillett and Hicks will not be railroaded into altering their financial plans for the club - regardless of Benitez's frustrations.
When questioned last night about Liverpool's inactivity in the transfer market, Hicks said: "I will not comment publicly on transfer business."
But after being priced out of moves to secure top strikers like Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Tevez or Fernando Torres, the two Liverpool owners are aware of Benitez's growing frustrations.
The 47-year-old refused to work under similar circumstances at Valencia, quitting the club three years ago after winning two La Liga titles and the UEFA Cup - safe in the knowledge that Liverpool wanted him to succeed Gerard Houllier.
Madrid's likely decision to part company with Capello, just a week after he reclaimed the Spanish title, will once again call into question the coach's future at Anfield.
Last summer, Benitez used interest from Real and Inter Milan to secure transfer funds from the club - and an improved contract. And within weeks of Gillett and Hicks completing their £450m buy-out of the Merseysiders he again indicated that a return to the Bernabeu was being mooted at the highest level of his former club.
The two Amercans, however, have not taken kindly to being publicly lambasted by an employee over their lack of knowledge about football's transfer market.
Benitez was being touted as a genuine successor to Capello earlier this year, with Chelsea's Jose Mourinho and Getafe's Bernd Schuster seemingly his only rivals for the biggest job in club football.
But that was when Madrid trailed Barcelona and Sevilla in La Liga, before a late-season surge claimed the championship on the last day of the season.
Capello's days at the Bernabeu still look numbered, with a decision expected in the next 48 hours.
Schuster is now the clear favourite to step in, with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, PSV Eindhoven's Ronald Koeman and former Bernabeu favourite Michael Laudrup also in the frame.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/sport/...8487-19348016/
Hope its just papertalk to be honest
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