For all the criticism FSG are currently receiving from Liverpool fans for not signing a single player during this summer transfer window, it’s easy to forget what the previous custodians were like.
Towards the end of Rafael Benítez’s reign at the Reds, the Champions League winning manager was fighting more with the owners off the pitch than he was for success on the pitch.
Some of that was the fault of the manager – like deciding to replace Xabi Alonso with Gareth Barry – but most of it was down to the broken promises and lack of financial backing given to him by his employers, who almost led the Merseyside Giants into administration.
On the most recent episode of ‘Stick to Football’ and speaking to Gary Neville and his fellow hosts Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright and Jill Scott, Benítez spoke at length about the issues he faced at Anfield.
“Under Tom Hicks and George Gillett, I wanted to sign [Stevan] Jovetić and he was £16 million,” began Benítez.
“In my head, I was selling players and had £34 million, but was told that we don’t have money. We went to play against Florentina and lost 2-0 – Jovetić scored both goals. I said that this was the player we wanted to sign but we didn’t have money.
“I wanted to sign Aaron Ramsey when he was playing for Cardiff City, and we made an offer of £1.5 million but Cardiff were playing in the FA Cup and wanted us to wait, but I told them that we had to do it, he was 17 years-old. When we went again to try and sign him, Arsène Wenger paid £5 million, and we couldn’t sign him.
“Gareth Bale, when he was 17 at Southampton, six months after we were watching him, Tottenham paid £8 million, and we couldn’t compete.
“To replace these kinds of things you need money and say, ‘I’m looking for a player that has this and so and so.’ I was talking to Vidić before he signed for Manchester United, and I knew 100% that he was not coming for us.
“When I was talking to him, I had to talk through his girlfriend because of English. She said, ‘I like the cities Manchester and Liverpool.’ I knew right away, why else is he talking about Manchester. So, I knew they were making a bigger offer than us.
“Therefore, we didn’t have the money to buy players, and we didn’t have the money to pay players either. The new owners were lucky because we sold Torres for £50 million, then Luis Suárez and Phillipe Coutinho.
“So, they had money to spend around that time. You must spend a lot of money like Chelsea and Manchester City – they just spend. For Liverpool, it was very difficult because the families of the players preferred to stay in London because of the airport, as well as Manchester.
“Liverpool was the third choice because of the size of the city, and they like to go shopping in London, I heard one wife talk to another wife!
“You also cannot pay the salaries. In terms of the city, I love Liverpool but if you go to London there’s the wives, families and all the people. Liverpool were also not winning trophies. Manchester was winning trophies; Chelsea was winning trophies and even Arsenal was winning trophies. So, it was very difficult – you have to convince players.
“Xabi Alonso is a very good player, a very clever person, and someone that is right. When we went for Gareth Barry, it was because he could play in three different positions and then we needed to sell. Xabi had an agreement; he was talking with one club and had an agreement.
“The year after, we played Standard de Liège for a Champions League qualifier and we had Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva in the Olympic Games, Steven Gerrard had a lower back problem, so we had to play [Damien] Plessis and Xabi.
“Xabi had an agreement with Arsenal and didn’t want to get cup tied. I told Jamie Carragher and Gerrard before the game that he had an agreement and doesn’t want to play, but he must because it is the most important game to qualify for the Champions League.
“Then when you were going out for the warm-ups, you said, ‘Poor Xabi.’ Not poor Xabi, he is playing for our club at this time. During the season he was our best player and didn’t go to Arsenal because he had to play [for us].
“We played against Lazio in our last pre-season friendly and the fans were clapping for Xabi, but he was going to Arsenal, the fans loved him.”
Benítez is currently on the look out for a new managerial role following his back-to-back ill-fated spells at Everton and Celta Vigo.
The 64-year-old is eager for a return to the Premier League and admitted he has had “five or six offers from teams at the bottom of the table” as well as “two (job offers) from Greece, one from Turkey, one from Hungary, two from Mexico, one from the Emirates, one from Qatar, two from Saudi Arabia and a couple of national teams.”
The Spaniard was linked with the Republic of Ireland job at one point during their lengthy search and he refused to rule out one day taking a position at international level.
“International [football], you play qualifiers for the World Cup, qualifiers for the Euros, and in 50% of the games, you will win with a cigarette [in your mouth],” he added.
“That’s it. Because you are a top side, and you play against Malta, Luxembourg or Andora. Half of the games, you win with a cigarette.
“And then you have a couple of games – four games, three games – where you have to compete. Then you have two years to build something – the right mentality, style, a model of play, then you compete.
“So, some of the national teams that were offered to me – or that I didn’t push – [their objective] was to qualify. I said, ‘It’s not enough.’ One of them was in the Euros and they were doing well, and it was ‘to qualify’. That’s it! But I want to compete for winning.
“And I have the experience to do it. So, I can go to any game with a good team and compete against Spain or anyone. I can do it because I know that I did it. And, I still have this passion, and I analyse football, and I use my people.
“So, if I go to Ireland, I will ask you [Roy Keane] questions and then you will say this and that because you know the environment and the problems. So, you need to know what is going on, you need people there who can help, and you need to think about the plan.
“I can do this with any team, and a national team could be fine. Why? Because I don’t have the same energy I had when I was 20, so I’m not stupid. So, you have to bring people that can do that [help you] and you have to manage them.”
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