Rafa laughs off Torres sale

Reds boss says he would quit if club sold striker to ease debt

By Richard Bailey   Last updated: 17th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Rafa laughs off Torres sale

Benitez: Would never sell Torres

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Rafa Benitez has admitted he would quit Liverpool if the club ever sold Fernando Torres behind his back to ease the financial pressure at Anfield.

The Reds are believed to be up to £245million in debt with owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks openly seeking much needed investment.

The situation has many suggesting that Benitez will have to lower the wage bill in January but the Spaniard has reassured Liverpool fans that he would never sanction the sale of Torres.

The former Valencia boss also defended his transfer record on Merseyside and insisted that the £20million capture of Alberto Aquilani was a bargain.

"I'm confident it will never happen," Benitez told The Times when asked if he was in danger of losing his star striker to ease the club's debt.

"If it did I'd resign."

Defending transfers

Despite splashing the cash on the likes of Ryan Babel [£11m], Robbie Keane [£19m] and Andrea Dossena [£6m], all of whom have or in Keane's case had limited success in the North West Benitez believes he has signed wisely over his five-years at Liverpool.

"When we have spent big, normally it's been very good business," he added.

"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 players have not been good enough for us. It is a risk you have to accept there is not too much money about."

Benitez stresses that he wants to leave a winning legacy at Anfield and insists the club's fortunes on the pitch will improve as soon as their main men are fully fit.

"There is a massive difference between five years ago and now," he highlighted. "The name of the club round the world is at the same level as it was in the 1980s.

Improvement

"It's a fantastic achievement. Everybody talks about Liverpool in a good way and we will get better.

"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."

On Aquilani Benitez added: "We can only buy one or two big, £20million players a year. If we want to have money available then we have to sell expensive and buy as cheaply as possible.

"Aquilani fit would be £20-£30million. We have 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."

Comments (145)

Jack Mccann (Liverpool fan) says...

To be honest, I used to hate when everybody were aiming at Liverpool. However, I am quite used to it, because you slowly understand what is this club about, there is a constant high expectation and these negativity from the press is inevitable. Rafa has brought so much success to the club, and so much memories to enjoy, as a fan, I only see massive improvement ever since the Spaniard took the seat. The only downside so far is that we aren't scoring consistently(which is not true for this season, only 3/18 matches we failed to score). If you look closely enough Rafa has been trying so hard to build a team around Gerrard, and EVERY first team player will peak in 2 years, by the time Gerrard will be 31/2, he will still be physically fit, and at his most experienced stage of his career to lead this Liverpool team to glory. Yes, losing Alonso was a huge blow to us, but Aquilani will not only replace Alonso but further improve this Liverpool team, give him a year to get used to the life in England and pace of the Premier League, he will become an absolute stunning player.

Posted 15:19 17th November 2009

Abdulkadir Said (Manchester United fan) says...

Liverpool will never get a manager like rafa

Posted 15:12 17th November 2009

Paul Edwards (Liverpool fan) says...

I'd like to ask every Liverpool fan had they ever heard of Aquilani before we signed him. I bet it would be less than 10%. Yet he is worth £25m. Yes to Liverpool he is but any other club would have signed him for half!! Rafa has signed many players who cost more than a couple of million who were a waste of money or has he forgotten. Nunez, Josemi, Kromkamp, Dossena, Vorinin, Zenden etc. The fact is he has signed good players and then let them go. He forced Alonso out after trying to fund Gareth Barry the year before, he forced Crouch out who is just what we need and still do. He lost £6m in 6 months on Keane, still thinks Lucas is world class, plays Babel out of position and didnt sign Owen for free because he never wants to take the shine of Torres. FACT is we buy more cheap players who arent good enough rather than do what Harry Rednapp and Martin O'neill does and buy good experienced prem players around the £8 to £12m mark. Now Vila and Spurs have brought there squads up to standard we are seeing their benfit and our demise.

Posted 15:01 17th November 2009

Ross Mackay (Manchester United fan) says...

Lets get serious and no slaggin lol, benitez has 1 serious issue and that is not all games r important! but realy they are! a mean sir alex is amazing he tells that changing room week in week out we must win this! and if they dont hel kick them up the bak side! benitez seems 2 have this wee thing gon on inside his brain were sum games jsr arent important as other were sir alex tells his tam the first round of the carling cup again yeovil is as important as the final against chelsea bcoz u must win those games 2 get 2 that game! benitez is not a ferguson,mourinho,wenger,capello they r all amazing managers! i think they need a new gaffer!

Posted 14:49 17th November 2009

Andrew Spark (Liverpool fan) says...

Typical united fans your commenting about liverpool you care more about our team than you do your own. Rafa's the man to take liverpool forward even if we did get rid of him who are we going to bring in? Mouriniho? Doubtfull. IN RAFA WE TRUST. Its gillett and hicks that needs to go. THEY DONT CARE ABOUT RAFA THEY DONT CARE ABOUT FANS LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB IS IN THE WRONG HANDS!

Posted 14:45 17th November 2009

Ant Howard (Manchester United fan) says...

Yeah, I agree, Rafa MUST stay. Best liverpool manager ever! I think Carlton Cole would be an ideal replacement for Torres when he's sold to Man Utd and maybe you could buy Dyer to replace Stevie G when he moves to Chealsea to win major trophies! I think its unfair to say looneypool are a one (two) man team, it just must be a coincidence they always lose when Torres and Gerrard aren't playing.

Posted 14:45 17th November 2009

Ash Patel (Manchester United fan) says...

haha im surprised liverpool are still buzzing from the united win it just shows how small minded your club is ... but i guess thats your trophy this season. It has to be said rafa doesnt know what he is doing im just waiting for rafa rant part 2 cuz liverpool is a sinking ship you may have gerrard fr the rest of his career but torres will go if u dont win and no big players want to play for a have bin successful team

Posted 14:40 17th November 2009

Promise Chinonso (Liverpool fan) says...

Poor can stil come up when de key players are fit,torres should remain in pool $rafa should also remain dere.i believe we wil improve wit de help of god.up liverpool we can stil be ontop of de league table.gudluck rafa

Posted 14:37 17th November 2009

Phil Jones (Liverpool fan) says...

Rafa is king!!! we should never sack him, just look how much stronger the team is now. he's working towards the future too which is what we need.

Posted 14:35 17th November 2009

Paul Milne (Tottenham Hotspur fan) says...

I do not think thatthe problem lies with Rafa, I think you need to look at who is coaching and challenging the players on a daily basis.......for me this person is not getting the best out of people and your team has just gone down hill since his arrival..........If I was a merican and in charge I'd be saying........Sammy....your fired..... Poor at Bolton/England and 'pool.....short ginger jack russell I know it all type.....Get a coachin who your players respect..........its more obvious than fergussons drinkers nose!!!!!

Posted 14:29 17th November 2009

Darren Hawken (Liverpool fan) says...

we are going through a bad patch but all teams do at some point, we should stick with rafa he's the best manager we have had for a long time, the owners hicks and gillett should go they have done nothing for the club but bring misery, we do need another front man to help torres and a couple of other players, as for man utd fans least our manager dont moan about the ref when we loss cant he admit that they wer not good enough on the day instead of blaming everyone else but then old habbits die hard

Posted 14:25 17th November 2009

Patrick Maron (Chelsea fan) says...

eh... Benitez doing bad this season same as Ferguson. Rafa squad iss so strong but his tactics are to weak to beat opponets such as Villa, arsenal or sunderland.. I will change a coach, Benitez for me is not a coach. He put Reina on goal , but beofre DUDEK help him winning UCL :/.. (i think it was 2005 :P) Greetings from west end

Posted 14:23 17th November 2009

Marc Gerolimatos (Liverpool fan) says...

Re Ant howard. I think you should get your facts straight before mouthing of and looking stupid. I think you'll find that if it wasn't for a certain someone called Mark Robbins then Fergi would have been sacked very early on in his Man utd career, however Rafa won the Champions league in his first year and was in a final there after for 3 years running. Also the stats say that in his first 150 or so games for Liverpool rafa blew Fergi out of the water by winning more, drawing and loosing less games plus scoring more games. it took Fergi something like 5-6 years before he won the title. now that we have the best keeper in the world, best midfielder in the world (not like you with your two grandads trying to hold the fort) plus the best attacker in the world it clearly wont be long before you will be eating your words! One more thing, it makes me laugh that you supporters get all excited that you have EQUALED our record but you've haven't beaten it and probably wont. If there ever was a one man team your're proving right now that it was you last year. you're nothing in comparrison without Ronaldo but no Man utd fan has the guts to admitt it. Must feel great being a glory supporter?

Posted 14:20 17th November 2009

Stan Curran (Wolverhampton Wanderers fan) says...

At the end of the day, liverpool would be crazy to get rid of benetiz. I admit liverpool need a shake up but when it comes down to it, there is no replacement. There is no world class manager of benetiz's quality who would be willing to enter the anfield turmoil. But i think it is the transfer market that has been his biggest downfall during his time at liverpool. Torres, Agger, Alonso, Reina, Johnson, Benayoun, Arbeloa, Mascherano are great players and im 100% sure aquliani will be quality aswell. but that is still 9(8) signings out of 67 that have been a success which is ridiculous. Its not only his buying but also his selling, selling a top quality right back for 3.5 million, forcing alonso out by trying to sign barry is just idiotic. But although hes got himself into the position he is in, he is still the man for liverpool, if someone of hiddink's calibre became availible then maybe it would be the end for benetiz but at the moment there would be no point getting rid of him as i would love to see ferguson trying to get by with only 2 top quality game changing players. Lets give benetiz the transfer window to try and change his fortunes

Posted 14:18 17th November 2009

Dan R (Arsenal fan) says...

Rafa is talking himself out of his job brilliantly. The only reason he's still there is because of the huge expense in sacking him - but selling Torres will bring millions in, save on wages and get rid of Benitez for free. It's genius

Posted 14:17 17th November 2009

Adam Caldwell (Manchester United fan) says...

i'd like to point out that Lolu Ayo does not represent all united fans.lol. but the fact that use are pointin out thats hes stupid and not actually disagreein with the fact use are a TWO man team means that use should b very worried for your clubs future. And its very rare when the two actually even play together. its sad to c liverpool doin poorly but also laughable at the change in opinion of the fans. one week its hate the owners, the next its hate benitez. then back to blaming the owners. grow up and support your team thru the hard times!

Posted 14:15 17th November 2009

Jake Hyde (Manchester United fan) says...

In response to Brendan Smyth (Liverpool fan) question "since when has one man had two names?" Maybe you don't remember Mr Jay Jay Okocha so good they named him twice!! On the other hand I think it goes to show the lack of ambition at Liverpool at the moment, for Benitez to imply they can only compete when there stars are playing, while man u, chelsea and arsenal grind results with reserve teams!! Benitez should go and the Yanks should pay up each season to strengthen with proven quality.

Posted 14:05 17th November 2009

Dexter Ahmed mohammed jihad (Bari fan) says...

As a well known italian team bari supporter, liverpool should sell torres. because hes not very good. our striker Ian Khuzaymah Kazan is very good, maybe liverpool should buy him. he is quite expesive though, we want around £200,000 and he needs some boots he scored 7 goals in the last 2 years which is unbelievable. he does need a new pair of shinpads. i think liverpool are going to win the league, with kazan. they are a great team, liverpool shouldnt sack alex fergueson. or sell wayne rooney and frank lampard. glory glory liverpool. hope liverpool win as much as they can, come on u red devils.

Posted 14:04 17th November 2009

Martin Smith (Liverpool fan) says...

I read with interest all the comments that all continually put on these "chats". Man Utd fans very rarely have anything constructive to say, and are quite obviously still sour at losing to Liverpool again. I personally think Rafa is the right person and we have many quality players in the squad. You can pick holes in any teams ethics and persons bought etc its how they play on the pitch that counts. We are going through a rough spell but we will come through it just like any other team would and we will continue to fight in each game, one after the other. The premiership is more of a "when" than a "if" and anyone who doubts that, will eat their words!

Posted 14:02 17th November 2009

Shaun Samra (Liverpool fan) says...

the Liverpool board had a chance to sell the club to the Dubai Group but they chose instead to give the keys over to Americans.. was this a big mistake or did the board make more of a personal gain £££ by doing business with Hicks & Gillett ... if Liverpool FC was in the hands of the Dubai group we would have a new state of the art stadium ready to move into come next year and the money to buy the best players around the world and all of this ( DEBT FREE )

Posted 14:02 17th November 2009

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