Rafa Benitez has opened the door on a bevy of
speculation with his admission that he is likely to focus much of
his summer recruitment drive on English players.
Benitez has previously not been averse to scouring the domestic
market but often with mixed success. Peter Crouch always split
opinion, while Jermaine Pennant and Scott Carson both failed to
cement themselves at Anfield.
His Spanish homeland has where the Liverpool manager has had
most triumph with the likes of Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres but
he knows that Champions League rules mean that he can no longer
ignore homegrown talents.
Gareth Barry was oh-so close to moving to Anfield last summer
and his is a name, along with Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson, that will
inevitably be linked with the club in the coming months.
“It’s difficult to say how many we want to bring in,” said
Benitez. “We need eight English players in the Champions League
squad.
“Both the fans and the staff want good English players, but
mainly good players. So if the good players are English, that is
better.
“We have very good players in the spine and that’s often the
most important thing. We can improve a little bit in certain areas
but overall we don’t need a lot of players.
“When we first came here we had to improve a lot. We often
didn’t have the money or the options to bring in all the players we
wanted and we weren’t quite there.
“Now, everybody knows we are so close that if we want to bring
in a top-class player it will be easier. We can say, ‘come to
Liverpool because you will win trophies in the future’ and I think
these players will come.
“I think we are better placed than the others to challenge
United in the long term.”