Liverpool boss
Rafa Benitez is facing a £20
million spending cap for the next five years, it has been
revealed.
The Independent says Benitez's struggle to keep pace
with the Premier League elite is
revealed in documents which suggest Liverpool's net summer spending will be locked at
£20m until 2014 – a figure which will also include wage increases
accruing from contract renewals.
The figures, which suggest the manager must continue to sell
before he can buy, are contained in a prospectus published in March
by investment banks Rothschild and Merrill Lynch to attract
potential investors in the club.
The section of the Rothschild/Merrill Lynch document relating to
"player transfer payments" states: "Management believes that the
normalised long-run level of new net player capital expenditure is
£20m." The accompanying data suggests "long run" means the next
five years. This figure "will grow together with increases in media
broadcasting revenues," the bankers promise. Though revenues from
British broadcasters are expected to drop, overseas rights should
grow before 2014.
