American millionaires Tom Hicks and George Gillett have taken
their first step towards selling Liverpool.
The Premier League club's co-owners have hired investment bank
Barclays Capital to find potential investors to ease the financial
crisis at Anfield. But, significantly, they have also indicated for
the first time that they would sell the club for the right
price.
Red raiders: Benitez wants to spend £60million this
summer on new talent to back up his star players Fernando Torres
(left) and Steven Gerrard
The move will delight under-pressure manager Rafael Benitez, who
knows his spending plans have been badly affected by the
£237million debt built up by the owners, who are unpopular with the
majority of Liverpool fans.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, who, along with American investment
bank Wachovia, lent Hicks and Gillett the money, have demanded that
they reduce that debt by £100m in July.
Benitez yesterday warned that he needs to spend £60m this summer
to compete for major trophies. The manager underlined his concern
that Liverpool's status will be under threat unless they sign three
world-class players in addition to acquiring Serbia midfielder
Nikola Jovanovic on a Bosman free.
Hicks and Gillett were met by hostile demonstrations when they
went to Anfield for Liverpool's Europa League quarter-final against
Benfica on Thursday night and they are set to appoint British
Airways chairman Martin Broughton to take on the same role at
Liverpool because of their own unpopularity.
However, the Americans are unlikely to be forced into a
fire-sale of the club, having recently rejected a £105m offer for
40 per cent from New York investment bank The Rhone Group. Five
sets of investors have expressed an interest but Hicks, in
particular, was against the offer from The Rhone Group.
Warning: Benitez says that he needs to spend £60m
this summer to compete
Liverpool take on Fulham today 19 points behind Premier League
leaders Chelsea and four points behind Manchester City in the race
for the final Champions League place.
Benitez, who is being courted by Juventus, last night put a
price on his ambitions at Anfield, saying: 'We need three or four
players. The cost of a top-class player is about £15m or £20m, so
you can start counting how much it will cost.
'If we have problems with one of our signings like Alberto
Aquilani, we find it difficult to manage. Other teams have
expensive players injured, or not in the team, and they can manage
because of the size of their squad.'
Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan, who will face Liverpool in
the Europa League, and Spain forward David Silva of Valencia are
among Benitez's targets.
The manager will not want to stay if players such as Fernando
Torres and Steven Gerrard are sold. But he is willing to
offload the likes of Ryan Babel, Albert Riera and Aquilani.
The Liverpool manager has spent £220m in six years at Anfield,
with Peter Crouch, Craig Bellamy, Robbie Keane, Andrea Dossena and
Mark Gonzalez, among others, coming and going through the revolving
door. But Benitez insists the high turnover has not been his
fault.
He said: 'I was criticised for selling one tall striker [Crouch]
but his wages at Portsmouth were double what they were here. How
could I keep him?'