s@int wrote:Didn't Rafa say he would leave if we sold Torres?
He did, but that was when he was rustling up more support from his loyal supporters. The old "Rafa loves the club" card never fails to get a bit of press coverage and to muddy the waters a bit.
Now it may concieveably suit him to flog Torres off, such ultimatums are no doubt a thing of the past. If he were given all the money from the sale to spend though, God only knows who he'd spend it on, how often he'd play them, which position he'd play them in etc etc. The idea of giving him 70 million quid in a last ditch attempt to salvage his reputation seems utterly bizarre to me given his exploits over the last couple of seasons.
Not I hasten to add that I think selling Torres is an utterly daft idea (AND BEFORE THE WRIST SLASHERS, WIERDO'S AND STALKERS CREATE A BLOODBATH I'M NOT SAYING WE SHOULD DEFINATELY SELL HIM), it's just that I wouldn't trust Benitez with any of the proceeds. Good managers have been known to sell clubs best players and re-invest the proceeds with great success, making the team as a whole much stronger, but my money wouldn't be on this fella pulling it off.
No, the safest and most sensible way to go is to keep your best players in the hope that when all this nonsense is eventually sorted out (which may I'm afraid take another season), at least any incumbent has something to either work with or to trade. You don't sell the family silver and give the proceeds to a fruit machine adict.