Benitez fixed on getting good returns at Anfield

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:RAFAEL BENITEZ has reinforced his desire to remain at Liverpool by revealing he has commenced his transfer strategy for next summer, even though a lack of spending power at Anfield lies behind his reluctance to sell Ryan Babel this month.

The Liverpool manager yesterday confirmed he is working on limited means during this transfer window, despite selling Andrea Dossena to Napoli for €4.9 million and agreeing a fee of almost €2.2 million with Dynamo Moscow for Andriy Voronin, and he may struggle to improve his options beyond the impending €1.66 million arrival of Maxi Rodriguez from Atletico Madrid.

Liverpool rejected an offer in excess of €8.9million this week for Babel from Birmingham City, despite the €12.8 million capture from Ajax falling short of expectations at Anfield.

Liverpool’s hierarchy are confident the interest of several European clubs can produce an auction for the Netherlands attacker but Benitez, acutely aware there is no guarantee he can reinvest any fee for Babel in January, has admitted the depth of his squad is also a factor.

“If I do not find any good replacements, I will try to keep him,” the Liverpool manager said. “He said that he wants to stay. We will try to train with him in the right way and, if he can give something to us, I will be really pleased. We signed a player with talent, with pace and ability and we want to see the best from him. So we will try to push him and hopefully he can play well. He has the potential and he has shown this a lot of times but we want to see him playing at this level more frequently.”

Benitez claimed Liverpool’s reticence in this month’s transfer market was due not solely to a lack of funds but to a dearth of available talent. “At this moment we have to do the best for the club and this means accepting the situation,” he said. “There aren’t too many good players in the market now that you could bring here because the majority of them are with top sides or in the Champions League and they want to stay until the end of the season.”

But he refused to deny claims he will offer the Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh – a long-time Arsenal target – a pre-contract agreement this month, merely revealing that work on potential recruits was under way. Benitez said: “I have to plan for the summer. When I decided to stay it was because I wanted to stay. I gave my word and I want to fight, so I will fight until the end. Always you have to be ready and you have to know the market.”

- Guardian Service