RAFA BENITEZ will clear the decks this summer in a bid
to bring the Premier League crown to Anfield.
Wednesday’s Champions League KO at Chelsea has blown
his chance of an added £30million transfer jackpot to help fund a
close-season spending spree.
Now the Liverpool boss must generate some of his own
funds to bring in Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry, Borussia Dortmund
full-back Philipp Degen and Wigan winger Antonio Valencia.
And that will see the likes of Peter Crouch, Jermaine
Pennant, John Arne Riise and even Xabi Alonso heading for pastures
new.
Villa boss Martin O’Neill is a big fan of England
hitman Crouch, 27, and would be willing to let England midfield ace
Barry head for Merseyside in part-exchange.
Norwegian Riise, 27 — whose last-gasp own goal gifted
Chelsea a precious first-leg equaliser at Anfield — has also been
linked with a move to Villa Park.
Benitez has made no secret of the fact that he is very
keen on bringing in a new left-back.
Pennant, 25, has failed to hold down a regular starting
slot and is another who could be offloaded to help pay for
Benitez’s targets, with Newcastle and Spurs both interested.
Reserve winger Sebastian Leto will be the first out and
is set to rejoin Paco Herrera at Espanyol, where the former Anfield
coach is now director of football.
Harry Kewell’s stop-start Liverpool career will also
finally come to a halt, and the injury-hit Aussie winger, 29, will
not be offered a new deal.
That alone would save around £70,000 a week in wages,
paying a large chunk of a top-line star’s salary.
Alonso, 26, has fought his way back into the team after
a spell in the cold but Benitez knows he is one man who could bring
in a hefty fee.
If Barcelona or Real Madrid follow up tentative
interest earlier in the season, the playmaker would be allowed to
go back to La Liga and boost the transfer kitty by around £12m.
Early in the campaign he claimed he would only have to
bring in a couple of new faces to add to the squad, yet now around
half-a-dozen are likely to be heading out.
Last term they finished 21 points behind champions
Manchester United, while this season the worst they can expect is
to be four points closer. Yet their guaranteed fourth place is one
slot lower than 12 months ago.
And the manager knows there is still much work to be
done to bring a first Premier League title to Merseyside.
Despite that, the Stamford Bridge defeat will not send
Benitez himself close to the edge and the ownership chaos at
Anfield actually means he is still in a position of great
strength.
Tom Hicks has spent the past two months insisting he is
fully behind the Kop boss and the Spanish coach admitted he has
already been given the thumbs up concerning his transfer
targets.
Hicks’ broken relationship with co-owner George Gillett
also means Benitez is safe, simply because the two Americans cannot
agree on anything at the moment.
