Benitez concedes title hopes dented by debt burden

LIVERPOOL CRISIS: Andy Hunterhears Liverpool's manager suggest the club are subject to unrealistic expectations, given a severely restricted transfer budget

RAFAEL BENITEZ has conceded that Liverpool’s title prospects were undermined this summer due to pressure to reduce the debt loaded on to the club by the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. In a frank admission ahead of tomorrow’s game at home to Arsenal, the Liverpool manager also suggested the club are burdened by unrealistic expectation given a transfer budget that is unlikely to improve without new investment.

Benitez had until now steadfastly refused to blame Liverpool’s financial predicament for the failure to build on last season’s second-placed finish, despite spending only what he raised through player sales in the summer, after the American owners were ordered to lower the club’s debt from €345 million to €278 million in their latest refinancing deal in July.

He departed from that policy yesterday, spurred by Graeme Souness’s criticisms following Wednesday’s Champions League defeat to Fiorentina, when the former Liverpool manager spoke of fears the club could follow Leeds United into “meltdown”.

Benitez delivered a considered assessment of Liverpool’s finances rather than an outright attack on Hicks and Gillett, who are expected to attend the game at Anfield tomorrow, but confirmed supporters’ suspicions that debt has impacted on the pitch.

“I don’t see Liverpool in the same way as Leeds,” the Liverpool manager said.

“One of the priorities this year was to reduce the debt so the club is working very hard to do this and I think that our position will be much better. We were doing a very good job this year trying to reduce the debt.

“It was one of the most important things that we had to manage. Along with football issues we had to manage them together. When I signed my five-year contract (in March) we knew that we had to work together so we will try to do the best for the club. Sometimes you can do it and still perform on the pitch and sometimes you have to wait a little bit. Sometimes you have to think about the big picture and the future of the club and that means you have to do your best on both sides.”

Benitez is assumed to have spent around €43 million on new players this summer and raised a similar sum through the sales of Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, Sebastian Leto and Paul Anderson.

Liverpool did not actually pay out €43 million, however. Roma revealed on their website they received only a first instalment of €5.6 million on the €20 million transfer of Alberto Aquilani, and Glen Johnson’s €19m arrival from Portsmouth comprised writing off monies owed by the Fratton Park club for Peter Crouch and a loan fee for Jermaine Pennant.

The Liverpool manager also wanted to sign Stevan Jovetic from Fiorentina and Matthew Upson of West Ham, only to discover both were out of the club’s financial reach. Asked if his net spend was nothing this summer, Benitez replied: “Yes.”

Liverpool’s managing director, Christian Purslow, has stated there was a net spend of €22 million but that includes the contracts awarded to Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun and Daniel Agger.

“I think we have to accept our situation and then try to do the best in the conditions that we have,” Benitez said.

“Can we improve with these conditions? I think so but it is a question of time.”

Purslow has started a global search for new investors willing to meet the Americans’ €111 million asking price for a 25 per cent stake in Liverpool. But Benitez denied the club are vulnerable to, for example, a big-money bid from Manchester City for Torres next month.

“No chance. No chance,” he said.

He was also adamant there will not be an exodus from Anfield should the team fail to qualify for the Champions League. He added: “We will be in the top four.”

Benitez said that the demanding expectations on Liverpool bore little relation to the financial reality of the club.

He explained: “No one was expecting Valencia (his former club) to win the league after 31 years. The problem with Liverpool is that it is a top side and everyone is expecting every single year to win trophies, trophies, trophies. The reality is that we have to work very hard to be at the same level as the other teams.”

'December is a great chance for us, a great time to change everything' - Mascherano

IT IS December and Javier Mascherano is talking of starting all over again, which is precisely what Rafael Benitez announced moments after Fiorentina brought Liverpool's Champions League campaign to a suitably dispiriting end, writes Andy Hunter.

The match against Arsenal today, they hope, can mark a watershed for a team over the worst of its injuries and only four points adrift of their depleted guests.

“December is a great chance for us, a great time to change everything,” said the Argentinian midfielder. “Maybe we don’t talk too much now about Liverpool’s season. Maybe we will talk in May if it was a good season or not. The season starts again now. We can’t change what has happened before but we can change the future. It’s difficult for everyone and we want to bring the confidence back. We want to play like we know we can.” Wigan, Portsmouth, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa complete the month for Liverpool and a calendar year that began with the club top of the Premier League, presenting its first genuine title challenge in over a decade, ends with the team bereft of form and self-belief.

“It’s about confidence,” Mascherano said. “When you are not winning games in a row, you don’t have confidence and it is difficult to show all the qualities that you have. In football, 80 per cent of the game is played in your head; the other 20 per cent is physical and tactical. So we have got to start winning to bring the confidence back. We are together and we are working very hard in training sessions and in the games but sometimes it just doesn’t go for you. Maybe if we can win, the luck will change and we’ll be confident.” Doubts persist over Mascherano’s long-term future at Anfield, although talks on a contract extension have tentatively commenced and a January departure for Barcelona – if they could afford him – appears out of the question.

“I have two more years on my contract so I think I don’t have to say anything else,” he said bluntly.

He is, however, more effusive on a fixture that last season delivered the final blow to Liverpool’s title hopes with a 4-4 draw.

“We know it will be a really difficult game,” he said. “They play really well but we have beaten them here before and we have got to show we have got the players and a team to beat them again. It’s a great chance for us.

“I think in this moment we don’t have to talk too much. We have got to show our quality on the pitch. We can talk for days and days about how we can beat them. It’s important now that we show it.”

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