Football Leagues » Premier League » Rafa Benitez
Rafa Benitez
Liverpool: Benitez's lucky break as speculation about his future continues
Marc Fox
Rafa Benitez is claiming that no discussions about his shaky future as Liverpool manager can take place until the club's new owners have been found.
So it must be coincidence that his delay to discuss his job past the end of the disastrous current season is timed exactly to coincide with Juventus president Jean-Claude Blanc's flying visit to Merseyside next week.
Media reports in Italy suggest Blanc is preparing to fly out to Liverpool to convince Benitez - as if surely he needed it - to terminate his long-term Reds deal and take up the £4m-a-year position as Juve's top man.
That is the preposterous pre-tax amount agreed between Juventus and Benitez's agent Manuel Garcia Quilon, according to reports in Italy yesterday.
With such figures floating around the stratosphere, Benitez meanwhile claimed he had to wait on news of Liverpool's latest owners - after American pair Tom Hicks and George Gillett put the club up for sale last week - before committing himself to the long haul.
Benitez reportedly told the Italian media on Friday: "The future? I just think about the next week, only of the sale of the club. I'm interested in who buys Liverpool.
"Resignation? I will have to wait for next week. I will talk to who will buy the club. We must wait."
Blanc, it appears, is not hanging about though in his public pursuit of the Spaniard who's endured a nightmare season.
Benitez's detractors might snigger at Blanc's public enthusiasm given Liverpool's fall from grace over the past 12 months, pondering why exactly he's the No.1 target to take over from Alberto Zaccheroni this summer.
The former Valancia manager's transfer record with Liverpool remains a constant source of ammunition for his critics, with some speculating whether Benitez is the man to rebuild and re-establish Juve at the top of Europe.
The silence is deafening from Rafa on his future, but there must be serious doubts about his capability to usurp Chelsea and Manchester United in the Premier League - with or without Fernando Torres - next year.
Torres is locked into a similarly long-term contract at Anfield, but with Manchester City already making their intensions known and Liverpool's challenge for fourth place dead, the 26-year-old's obvious regard for the club's supporters might be outweighed by his ambition to finally win some silverware.
Spain's talismanic striker must also wonder about the commitment of a few of his team-mates in the way Steven Gerrard and the increasingly infuriated Jamie Carragher clearly are.
Carragher's fury with his defensive colleagues in Thursday night's 1-0 loss to Atletico Madrid was obvious to all, and suggested a growing unease not only with many of Benitez's signings but also with his tactics - particularly at the back.
Unmarked Diego Forlan, the former Manchester United striker who's enjoyed notable goalscoring success against Liverpool in the past, found the net to secure Atletico's 1-0 victory in their semi-final first leg clash in the Spanish capital.
Forlan's side could and should have scored more, but the narrow victory means Liverpool could still redeem some pride, albeit in the form of the Europa League, in the return leg. Benitez certainly thinks so.
"There are no favourites for this game," he said afterwards. "At 1-0 it's always dangerous, but we have confidence from what we have done in the past.
"We had the same situation against Lille and Benfica and we could manage it and could win, so I have confidence we can do it again. It will be easier for us to play better and score more goals.
"In the club's history there have been times where we have lost the first leg but gone on to reach the final."
© Marc Fox & Soccerphile.com
|
|
|
|