ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:RAFAEL BENITEZ will finally discuss Liverpool's financial prospects with Martin Broughton this week having pulled out of two previous meetings with the chairman, who wants talks that could decide the Spaniard's future as manager.
Broughton has yet to speak with Benitez almost three weeks after he was installed at Anfield and announced that the manager retained the confidence of the board and would have funds to spend this summer. It emerged yesterday that their failure to talk owed to Benitez being unable to attend two proposed meetings, believed to be because the timing clashed with his preparations for Europa League and Premier League fixtures. The two are scheduled to talk within the next few days, however, and the outcome is likely to influence whether Benitez believes he has a future at Anfield.
Benitez’ agent, Manuel Garcia Quilon, has confirmed his client wants to remain as Liverpool’s manager but that the onus is on the Anfield board to convince him the club has the means to compete in the transfer market. That will include a guarantee that all income raised by sales, including from Fernando Torres should the striker decide he wishes to leave, will be reinvested in the playing staff. However, as a nonexecutive chairman, Broughton has been hired solely to oversee the sale of the club by Tom Hicks and George Gillett and is not involved in day-to-day operations. That remains the remit of the managing director, Christian Purslow.
Quilon said: “He (Benitez) has a meeting with the chairman this week, and from what I can say Rafael Benitez wants to continue at Liverpool. Benitez needs to know what the plans are for the future, for the investment into players at the club. That is going to be important.”
Although Broughton may assuage Benitez’ concerns over the takeover process, the manager is under pressure to give Juventus an answer on their offer of a four-year contract and is mindful of previous assurances over investment in Liverpool failing to materialise.
Andrea Agnelli, Juventus’s ambitious new president, is pressing Benitez for a decision but, with the possibility of both Milan clubs seeking managers this summer, an Italian exit route may remain open to the Spaniard if Juventus lose patience.
“I have not made any agreement with Juventus,” Quilon said. “He has four years left of his contract (with Liverpool).”
The potential sale of Liverpool does not have implications only for Benitez’ future, with Torres awaiting developments and Chelsea and Manchester City hoping to capitalise on the uncertainty. The striker is recovering from a second operation this year on his right knee and the club’s new head of sports medicine, Peter Brukner, has cast doubt on whether the 26-year-old will be fit for the start of Spain’s World Cup campaign on June 16th.
Brukner said: “He’s doing well and he’s certainly tremendously committed to his rehab and if anyone can recover from an injury, he can. You can’t be absolutely certain but at this stage, if he continues to progress, he should be fit to play at some stage during the World Cup. Whether he’ll be fit for the first game (against Switzerland) or not is uncertain.”
Brukner admitted Liverpool face the delicate act of balancing Torres’s long-term fitness with the striker’s ambitions of leading Spain in South Africa. “We’re anxious not to hurry him along because we want the long-term benefit, but we’re aware he’s got the short-term goal of playing in the World Cup,” he said.
Guardian Service
