Benítez: spend big now or risk losing me
Rafael Benítez has issued a stark warning to Liverpool's American
owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, that the club must spend
lavishly in the transfer market this summer if they are to mount
any kind of concerted Premiership challenge next season, suggesting
that failure to do so would have serious implications on his own
long-term future at Anfield.
The Spaniard, his temper still simmering following Wednesday's
European Cup final defeat by Milan, launched a thinly veiled attack
on senior management at the club, principally the chief executive
Rick Parry who undertakes transfer negotiations, by voicing
long-held concerns that Liverpool "talk and talk but never finish"
when it comes to the prospective signings of players. Benítez
claimed to know of two "top-class targets" he could sign now for
around £13m each, while a failure to act swiftly would see
Liverpool finishing well adrift in the title race again next
term.
"If we don't change things right now and understand how crucial
this moment is, we will waste another one or two months on two or
three targets and we'll start having to sign third-choice players,"
said Benítez, who signed a new contract last summer, extending to
2010, but whose patience has clearly been wearing thin.
"That would leave us contenders to be in the top four. Nothing
else. After three years working really hard, we've not progressed
enough. I have confidence in the Americans because they say they
will back me, but I want to see things happening right now. I'm
tired of talking, talking. We talk and talk but we never
finish."
Most worryingly for Liverpool's supporters, Benítez drew
comparisons with events at his previous club, Valencia, where
frustration that he was not given carte blanche to reshape his
squad eventually prompted his resignation. "At Valencia we won the
league for the first time in 31 years, but the club thought we were
winners already and decided they didn't need to sign any more
players, and we finished fifth the next season," he said.
"It is the situation I've been watching here in the last few years.
They say we are close, but we are not close. We are 21 points
behind and we cannot work harder. I cannot work more than 20 hours
a day.
"We have improved every year, but Chelsea, Arsenal and United have
done the same. The team that won the Premier League this year have
just spent £20m after winning the title on one midfielder [Owen
Hargreaves]. I want things to be done. We have some targets,
top-class players, but if you spend two or three weeks waiting,
then talking and talking, you either cannot sign the player or have
to pay more money.
"We can sign two top-class targets for 20m each right now. Maybe
we didn't have enough money in the past, but now we have new owners
who can invest £400m in the club. If we don't do the right things
right now, we'll miss the opportunity and next season we'll be
talking about third or fourth and 20 points behind again."
Benitez had substantial backing under David Moores' regime, and 11
of the 18-man squad for the Athens final were his signings. Indeed,
Hicks and Gillett have commissioned Deloitte & Touche to
conduct an independent report on the Spaniard's spending to date.
Yet he has consistently argued that the entire Liverpool squad
required revamping upon his arrival in the summer of 2004. Since
then he has been infuriated to miss out on targets, such as Daniel
Alves at Sevilla, Simao Sabrosa of Benfica, Nemanja Vidic at
Spartak Moscow and Real Zaragoza's Gabriel Milito. He also felt
Liverpool should have secured Theo Walcott, Abou Diaby and
Denilson, all of whom joined Arsenal.
That reflects directly upon Parry, whose position could come under
closer scrutiny this summer when Foster Gillett, the joint-owner's
son, takes up a permanent position. Benítez is also perplexed that
contract renegotiations with Xabi Alonso and José Reina have moved
sluggishly.
