Rafael Benítez scolds Gareth Barry for chasing money

[Matt]

I don't know why he bothered saying that to be honest. I'm sure he's got his reasons but if I'm Xabi Alonso and I'm hearing Rafa complain that he couldn't get Barry then I'd be feeling more than a bit insecure.

Unless of course he's still trying to ship him out.

[carheex]

He just sounds bitter to me, pointless moaning about it, the guy chose City, move on nothing to see here.

Couldn't agree more. And if I remember correctly, not only did we pay over the odds for Johnson but we had to increase his initial salary offer to prevent the temptation of him going elsewhere. Did Johnson join for the money? if so, that makes Rafa's comments very hypocritical on this occasion.

[carheex]

I don't know why he bothered saying that to be honest. I'm sure he's got his reasons but if I'm Xabi Alonso and I'm hearing Rafa complain that he couldn't get Barry then I'd be feeling more than a bit insecure.

Unless of course he's still trying to ship him out.

I think he is trying to ship Alonso out. He's going on about silly transfer fees way too much lately and it's going to come back and bite him as Madrid are refusing to pay silly money for Alonso.

[The_weatherman]

I think he is trying to ship Alonso out. He's going on about silly transfer fees way too much lately and it's going to come back and bite him as Madrid are refusing to pay silly money for Alonso.

Or he is implying to Xabi that he should stop being so greedy and worry about the taxman and euro vs. pound - he gets by as it is and should be grateful. At the top level you don't worry about money but trophies. He could be sending the same message to Xabi IMO.

Or he could just be having a bad day after arguing with Montse about the color of the new window curtains, who knows?

[dww]

I can't help feeling that again people are over analysing this. Every season Rafa has said something along the lines of transfer fees are too large and it seems unsustainable and we have to work harder to compete as we have less cash.

In the context of the Johnson signing I think Rafa made the Barry comments to emphasise the positives of Johnson joining us despite bigger offers and to put the fee we paid (which he admitted he thinks was inflated) into perspective.

He's always pretty much spoken his mind on these issues since he came and we seem to have similar conversations every year. Each year we seem to miss out on someone due to their wage/transfer demands I'm pretty sure that as a consequence Rafa no longer puts all his eggs in one basket. When Reina made similar comments about Barry and Tevez everyone was behind him.

[The Birdman]

I'm happy Rafa said that about Barry because it's true - why do posters on here have a problem with our manager sticking up for the club and telling the truth??

He also said in the same interview (I think) that Alonso and Mascher should stay, he wants them both to stay and that they owe Liverpool FC because Mascher wasn't playing at West Ham and Alonso was at Sociedad and practically unknown outside of Spain, he brought them to Liverpool, rewarded them with improved contracts now they need to stay.

I'm all for it, we have been bullied for too long

[magicalbarnes]

Rafa is wrong to blame Barry for this.

The fact is that Barry wanted to play for Liverpool but Villa were not prepared to sell to Liverpool.

Man City simply said to Villa 'whatever Liverpool are prepared to pay - we will pay more'. That is nothing to do with Barry as we were his first choice. From Villa's point of view they wanted as much money for their asset as they could get, regardless of weather they sell to Liverpool, City or Accrington Stanley!

[RedSince1964]

I'm happy Rafa said that about Barry because it's true - why do posters on here have a problem with our manager sticking up for the club and telling the truth??

He also said in the same interview (I think) that Alonso and Mascher should stay, he wants them both to stay and that they owe Liverpool FC because Mascher wasn't playing at West Ham and Alonso was at A.Madrid and practically unknown outside of Spain, he brought them to Liverpool, rewarded them with improved contracts now they need to stay.

I'm all for it, we have been bullied for too long

Spot on fella

[carheex]

I can't help feeling that again people are over analysing this. Every season Rafa has said something along the lines of transfer fees are too large and it seems unsustainable and we have to work harder to compete as we have less cash.

In the context of the Johnson signing I think Rafa made the Barry comments to emphasise the positives of Johnson joining us despite bigger offers and to put the fee we paid (which he admitted he thinks was inflated) into perspective.

He's always pretty much spoken his mind on these issues since he came and we seem to have similar conversations every year. Each year we seem to miss out on someone due to their wage/transfer demands I'm pretty sure that as a consequence Rafa no longer puts all his eggs in one basket. When Reina made similar comments about Barry and Tevez everyone was behind him.

This is where Rafa's argument falls down embarassingly though. WE were the biggest offer!. If I recall, Man City equalled the 17m transfer fee and offered 80k a week - we then increased our salary offer to 90k+ to secure his signature. Rafa criticises over inflated fees yet pays 17m for Johnson..then he criticises players for their wages/greed when possibly the only reason that we have Johnson is because we outbid Man City's salary offer!!!

I think Rafa is a truly superb manager but embarrasses himself and us a bit in the press.

[Vermilion]

This is where Rafa's argument falls down embarassingly though. WE were the biggest offer!. If I recall, Man City equalled the 17m transfer fee and offered 80k a week - we then increased our salary offer to 90k+ to secure his signature. Rafa criticises over inflated fees yet pays 17m for Johnson..then he criticises players for their wages/greed when possibly the only reason that we have Johnson is because we outbid Man City's salary offer!!!

I think Rafa is a truly superb manager but embarrasses himself and us a bit in the press.

Don't believe a word of that, Citeh let us out bid them on a players salary when that's all it would have took to get GJ to sign for them, i don't think so, they'd have blown our package out of the water if they had any chance of signing him imo, especially if salary/cash was the only/main thing Gj was interested in.

[dww]

This is where Rafa's argument falls down embarassingly though. WE were the biggest offer!. If I recall, Man City equalled the 17m transfer fee and offered 80k a week - we then increased our salary offer to 90k+ to secure his signature. Rafa criticises over inflated fees yet pays 17m for Johnson..then he criticises players for their wages/greed when possibly the only reason that we have Johnson is because we outbid Man City's salary offer!!!

I think Rafa is a truly superb manager but embarrasses himself and us a bit in the press.

As far as I know none of us know what any of the offers were just the media speculation. I've read reports that City offered double the wages we did but very few people actually know and none of them are reliable sources as they all have their own interests to protect.

So I think you get to make up your own story here if you want to believe we offered the most you can if you want to believe the opposite then you have just as much evidence. I really don't see it as embarrasing at all.

[carheex]

Don't believe a word of that, Citeh let us out bid them on a players salary when that's all it would have took to get GJ to sign for them, i don't think so, they'd have blown our package out of the water if they had any chance of signing him imo, if salary was the only thing Gj was interested in that is.

Maybe. Maybe not, but that's not the point. Rafa is criticising players who opt for the biggest salary, yet had to make our offer the highest in order to get our man.
It's the arrogance of it all that annoys me - some people think that EVERY player should be desperate to play for us and should want to do so for less money than the could get elsewhere. If we were winning the league regularly then maybe you could argue that point but we haven't won it for 20 years!! Most of today's emerging talent weren't even born when we lasted lifted the league title so why should they see us as their ultimate destination?

[dww]

Maybe. Maybe not, but that's not the point. Rafa is criticising players who opt for the biggest salary, yet had to make our offer the highest in order to get our man.
It's the arrogance of it all that annoys me - some people think that EVERY player should be desperate to play for us and should want to do so for less money than the could get elsewhere. If we were winning the league regularly then maybe you could argue that point but we haven't won it for 20 years!! Most of today's emerging talent weren't even born when we lasted lifted the league title so why should they see us as their ultimate destination?

The point is we don't know that and some reports suggest exactly the opposite.

[carheex]

As far as I know none of us know what any of the offers were just the media speculation. I've read reports that City offered double the wages we did but very few people actually know and none of them are reliable sources as they all have their own interests to protect.

So I think you get to make up your own story here if you want to believe we offered the most you can if you want to believe the opposite then you have just as much evidence. I really don't see it as embarrasing at all.

I've not seen one report that says City offered double what we offered. Nearly every report I've seen says that we increased our offer over City's. That's good enough for me to decide where to form my opinion.

[carheex]

The point is we don't know that and some reports suggest exactly the opposite.

Well, if we don't KNOW what salary's have been offered then why are we readily accepting that Gareth Barry is a mercenary??