• Benitez would not even accept £100m for Torres
• Debt may tempt owners to part with Liverpool striker
Rafael Benitez would resign if Fernando Torres was
sold by Liverpool. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Rafael
Benítez said last night that he would quit if Fernando
Torres is sold against his will. Liverpool's £245m debt has led to questions about whether
their US owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, would be tempted to
sell, even if he was offered £100m for the
striker.
"I'm confident it will never happen," the manager said. "If it
did, I'd resign."
The financial situation at Liverpool means they struggle to
compete at the top end of the market and Benítez admitted that that
had led to him making mistakes. "When we have spent big, normally
it's been very good business," he told The Times. "Torres, [Javier]
Mascherano, [Pepe] Reina, [Xabi] Alonso.
"[Robbie Keane] is a good player but we had to sell him because
he was not playing at the level we knew he could play. Ryan [Babel]
was signed for the future and we are waiting for his improvement.
He has to be more consistent. With the fringe players we needed to
take a gamble on Bosmans and one-, two-million pound players. Some
of these have not been good enough. It is a risk you have to accept
when there is not too much money about."
Benítez also defended his signing of the Italian midfielder
Alberto Aquilani, bought for £17m from Roma in the summer to
replace Alonso, but only now reaching fitness after making his
league debut in the recent draw with Birmingham.
"We can only buy one or two big, £20 million players a year,"
Benítez said. "If we want to have money available then we have to
sell some players. We have to sell expensive and buy as cheaply as
possible. Aquilani fit would be £20m to £30m. We checked with
doctors and they said he would be out one, maybe two months. We
have lost some time but I signed the player for five years, not
five weeks.
"Xabi put in a transfer request," he added. "We had a
professional and good relationship. Some people say the manager
must put his arm around the player's shoulder. I don't know too
many managers who do this. Some managers in England don't even see
the training sessions."
Benítez now feels confident that Liverpool will begin to climb
from seventh. "People are worried but the team will improve. When
we have key players on the pitch we are as good as anyone. We have
proved this in the past."
