Although Liverpool must secure £100 million before July to reduce their £237 million debt and satisfy the club's bankers, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the only concrete proposal so far received, from the New York-based Rhone Group, was effectively rejected on Monday night as a deadline set by the firm to accept the offer passed.
Though club sources believe offers may come from at least two more suitors – owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett spent Wednesday in London speaking with their lawyers – as it stands the club have made no progress in their attempts to draw a close to the financial travails of the last three years. As long as that stagnancy endures, Benítez has warned, the club will be unable to deliver success.
"Some players have been talking about what we need for the future and I agree with them," Benítez said, referring to comments made by Fernando Torres suggesting the club require "four or five" top-class signings. "If we want to take the step forward that we need then we will need some money to compete with the top sides.
"We have been wheeling and dealing for six years, keeping the club at a good level, but if we continue to do that, it will be very difficult to stay at the level everyone is expecting.
"We were so close last year and if you want to go one step beyond, you have to do something different, and not just on the pitch. I was watching Barcelona, a massive club with a massive stadium who can spend big money in the transfer market and have a lot of players coming through their system. That is what you need to compete at the maximum level.
"For six months I have been waiting for new investors and I was really optimistic, especially about [the Rhone] Group, but they are not there now. We have to be positive and think the investors will come. I agree that we need new signings, and the cost and value of these players is very clear in the market. If we need three or four players, we will need some money."
Benítez believes he has done his bit in "balancing the books" , in an attempt to ensure there is some "money in the bank" to spend this summer. That, though, provides scant consolation to supporters baffled by the Spaniard's removal of Torres after an hour of the 1-1 draw at Birmingham on Sunday.
Here, too, Benítez sees the effects of Liverpool's parlous financial state. His withdrawal of his countryman in favour of David Ngog sparked a firestorm of criticism, but Benítez believes perhaps that decision would not have been so roundly condemned had he been equipped with the funds to procure a substitute of greater experience.
"Every manager makes mistakes," he said. "But you can see the difference. At some clubs you can make two or three mistakes a year for £15 or £20 million, and nothing happens.
"Here, because of the situation of the club, you make a substitution and we are talking for a week about the end of the world. It is because something has to change."
Comment