Times
Rafael Benítez labelled Gareth Barry a “100 per cent” mercenary yesterday for joining Manchester City last month. The Liverpool manager also adopted a hostile position with regards to the increasingly uncertain futures of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.
Benítez condemned Barry’s £12 million move from Aston Villa to City and declared that Alonso and Mascherano “owe” it to Liverpool to stay at Anfield as reports grow of their possible moves abroad.
Glen Johnson, the £18 million acquisition from Portsmouth, was praised by Benítez for his desire to play for Liverpool when other, larger, financial packages were available. City and Chelsea were eager to sign the 24-year-old — for considerably more than his new £90,000-a-week deal — but the right back insisted that Liverpool were his first choice because he believes that he can improve more under Benítez’s tutoring.
Liverpool courted Barry last summer before negotiations broke down, primarily because Martin O’Neill, the Villa manager, insisted that he would not allow the midfield player to leave the club. Benítez thought that he had his man again this summer but Barry, despite earlier protestations that he only wanted to leave Villa for Champions League football, decided to join Mark Hughes’s side instead.
“He [Johnson] was always thinking about Liverpool so for us to sign a player who wants to come, an England international with experience of being at a big club, is really good, because of his desire to be successful here,” Benítez said yesterday. “In this market, money is not the main thing because everyone at this level earns big money. If it’s just for money sometimes you make mistakes, like Barry. (Nice one Rafa
)
“I won’t say too much but that was clearly for the money, 100 per cent. It is not a bad thing to miss out on him. The most important thing is the passion of the player.”
Rafael Benítez labelled Gareth Barry a “100 per cent” mercenary yesterday for joining Manchester City last month. The Liverpool manager also adopted a hostile position with regards to the increasingly uncertain futures of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.
Benítez condemned Barry’s £12 million move from Aston Villa to City and declared that Alonso and Mascherano “owe” it to Liverpool to stay at Anfield as reports grow of their possible moves abroad.
Glen Johnson, the £18 million acquisition from Portsmouth, was praised by Benítez for his desire to play for Liverpool when other, larger, financial packages were available. City and Chelsea were eager to sign the 24-year-old — for considerably more than his new £90,000-a-week deal — but the right back insisted that Liverpool were his first choice because he believes that he can improve more under Benítez’s tutoring.
Liverpool courted Barry last summer before negotiations broke down, primarily because Martin O’Neill, the Villa manager, insisted that he would not allow the midfield player to leave the club. Benítez thought that he had his man again this summer but Barry, despite earlier protestations that he only wanted to leave Villa for Champions League football, decided to join Mark Hughes’s side instead.
“He [Johnson] was always thinking about Liverpool so for us to sign a player who wants to come, an England international with experience of being at a big club, is really good, because of his desire to be successful here,” Benítez said yesterday. “In this market, money is not the main thing because everyone at this level earns big money. If it’s just for money sometimes you make mistakes, like Barry. (Nice one Rafa
)“I won’t say too much but that was clearly for the money, 100 per cent. It is not a bad thing to miss out on him. The most important thing is the passion of the player.”
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