Summer transfers
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:16 pmRafael Benitez given £30m Liverpool war chest
Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent
Rafael Benítez will be given at least £30 million to spend on new players this summer as he embarks on his mission to restore Liverpool to pre-eminence in English football after signing a new five-year contract.
The Spaniard retains a slight hope of overhauling Manchester United in the Barclays Premier League this season as well as making another serious challenge for the Champions League, where Liverpool and the three other English clubs will discover their quarter-final opponents this morning, but he is also building for next season. His scouts are compiling reports on several wingers, including Aaron Lennon, of Tottenham Hotspur, and Antonio Valencia, of Wigan Athletic, as well as looking for a centre forward who can fill the void left by Robbie Keane’s departure.
The Liverpool manager was criticised for selling Keane back to Tottenham in January and not replacing him, but the minimum £10 million fee raised in that deal has boosted this summer’s transfer budget to £30 million. The club’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, have also allowed Benítez to reinvest any money raised by selling players such as Andrea Dossena and Philipp Degen, and offloading Jermaine Pennant and Andriy Voronin, who are on loan at Portsmouth and Hertha Berlin respectively. Further funds could be generated from prize money in this season’s Champions League.
Another priority is to secure the long-term futures of several of his squad and, while the priorities are Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt, Álvaro Arbeloa and Fábio Aurélio, whose deals expire in 15 months, Benítez has already pledged to give Fernando Torres a pay rise. The Spain striker will be offered an improvement on the £90,000-a-week, six-year contract he signed when he joined from Atlético Madrid in 2007, reflecting his status as one of the best strikers in the world.
Benítez inquired about Lennon, 21, during negotiations in the deal that took Keane to Tottenham and his interest has increased with the youngster’s impressive form in recent weeks, but other candidates, such as Valencia and David Silva, the Valencia midfield player, are under consideration. He is also casting his net wide in search of a centre forward, but David Villa, Silva’s team-mate, is out of Liverpool’s price range and is in any case expected to move to Barcelona or Real Madrid.
Under the terms of his new contract, which is worth £4.75 million a year, Benítez will have far greater control over transfers than last summer, when his bid to sign Gareth Barry from Aston Villa was vetoed by the board. But Hicks was eager to emphasise that the manager will have to work with a chief executive when a replacement for Rick Parry, who is standing down in the summer, is found. “I sat down with Rafa a couple of months ago and he made it very clear that he knows a manager can’t have control over the transfer budget,” Hicks said. “He has had his frustrations over the last five years but he will make the recommendations about which players we sign and the new CEO, the owners and the board will make the final financial commitment. And that is the way it needs to be.”
Benítez has secured written assurances that add to his power at the club. He has been promised overall control of football matters, including, significantly, the youth academy, which has been outside his remit. These concessions from the board were instrumental in his rejection of overtures from suitors such as Atlético Madrid, an Italian club and an unofficial approach from a third party claiming to represent a Premier League club, thought to be Chelsea or Manchester City. Contrary to popular belief, he did not receive nor encourage an approach from Real Madrid, who, with Benítez committed to Liverpool, are expected to try to entice Carlo Ancelotti from AC Milan.
Other reports in Mirror have Rafa been given 40 mil plus player sales and CL money so maybe a decent bit of money to spend , the question is who do we got for if it is around 40 mil ?
Ins
Silva 20-25 mil
Johnson 10 mil
Lennon 10 -15 mil mil
Owen - free ?
So maximum spend of 50 mil ?
Outs
Voronin - 9mil poss ?
Pennant - 3 mil ish ?
Dossena ? - 5 mil ?
any kids - 3 mil ?
Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent
Rafael Benítez will be given at least £30 million to spend on new players this summer as he embarks on his mission to restore Liverpool to pre-eminence in English football after signing a new five-year contract.
The Spaniard retains a slight hope of overhauling Manchester United in the Barclays Premier League this season as well as making another serious challenge for the Champions League, where Liverpool and the three other English clubs will discover their quarter-final opponents this morning, but he is also building for next season. His scouts are compiling reports on several wingers, including Aaron Lennon, of Tottenham Hotspur, and Antonio Valencia, of Wigan Athletic, as well as looking for a centre forward who can fill the void left by Robbie Keane’s departure.
The Liverpool manager was criticised for selling Keane back to Tottenham in January and not replacing him, but the minimum £10 million fee raised in that deal has boosted this summer’s transfer budget to £30 million. The club’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, have also allowed Benítez to reinvest any money raised by selling players such as Andrea Dossena and Philipp Degen, and offloading Jermaine Pennant and Andriy Voronin, who are on loan at Portsmouth and Hertha Berlin respectively. Further funds could be generated from prize money in this season’s Champions League.
Another priority is to secure the long-term futures of several of his squad and, while the priorities are Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt, Álvaro Arbeloa and Fábio Aurélio, whose deals expire in 15 months, Benítez has already pledged to give Fernando Torres a pay rise. The Spain striker will be offered an improvement on the £90,000-a-week, six-year contract he signed when he joined from Atlético Madrid in 2007, reflecting his status as one of the best strikers in the world.
Benítez inquired about Lennon, 21, during negotiations in the deal that took Keane to Tottenham and his interest has increased with the youngster’s impressive form in recent weeks, but other candidates, such as Valencia and David Silva, the Valencia midfield player, are under consideration. He is also casting his net wide in search of a centre forward, but David Villa, Silva’s team-mate, is out of Liverpool’s price range and is in any case expected to move to Barcelona or Real Madrid.
Under the terms of his new contract, which is worth £4.75 million a year, Benítez will have far greater control over transfers than last summer, when his bid to sign Gareth Barry from Aston Villa was vetoed by the board. But Hicks was eager to emphasise that the manager will have to work with a chief executive when a replacement for Rick Parry, who is standing down in the summer, is found. “I sat down with Rafa a couple of months ago and he made it very clear that he knows a manager can’t have control over the transfer budget,” Hicks said. “He has had his frustrations over the last five years but he will make the recommendations about which players we sign and the new CEO, the owners and the board will make the final financial commitment. And that is the way it needs to be.”
Benítez has secured written assurances that add to his power at the club. He has been promised overall control of football matters, including, significantly, the youth academy, which has been outside his remit. These concessions from the board were instrumental in his rejection of overtures from suitors such as Atlético Madrid, an Italian club and an unofficial approach from a third party claiming to represent a Premier League club, thought to be Chelsea or Manchester City. Contrary to popular belief, he did not receive nor encourage an approach from Real Madrid, who, with Benítez committed to Liverpool, are expected to try to entice Carlo Ancelotti from AC Milan.
Other reports in Mirror have Rafa been given 40 mil plus player sales and CL money so maybe a decent bit of money to spend , the question is who do we got for if it is around 40 mil ?
Ins
Silva 20-25 mil
Johnson 10 mil
Lennon 10 -15 mil mil
Owen - free ?
So maximum spend of 50 mil ?
Outs
Voronin - 9mil poss ?
Pennant - 3 mil ish ?
Dossena ? - 5 mil ?
any kids - 3 mil ?
but it isn't our most pressing area with Gerrard, Mascherano and Alonso. If I could get £20m for Mascherano I'd be tempted to sell and buy a couple of CMs to bolster the squad