Rumours that Benitez will have a 40m war-chest are cute but ultimately manufactured and untrue.
What IS interesting is the way Liverpool fans are excited about more money being available, considering that Benitez has spent almost 80m in the last 3 years.
Here’s a breakdown:
04-05
Total spending £15.85m
Costliest buy Xabi Alonso, £10.8m
05-06
Total spending £28.9m
Costliest buy Peter Crouch, £7m
06-07
Total spending £29.7m
Costliest buy Dirk Kuyt, £10.9m
Here are some more stats:
Players bought by Rafa Benitez at Liverpool – total spending = £81,596,000
Players sold by Rafa Benitez at Liverpool – total revenue = £38,475,000
A net outlay of £43m.
Their most successful season was 2004-2005, when Benitez brought few players in and worked instead with the same squad for a longer period of time. That season they won the Champions League and came 5th in the Prem. Last season they were 3rd in the Prem and won the FA Cup. This season, their only hope is the Champions League, and they have a bye to the semi-finals.
Do Liverpool need more money? After spending over 58m in the last two seasons? Really?
Who would Liverpool buy with 40m?
Liverpool’s current squad is pretty good – Pennant is improving, the striking trio is talented and good enough to score plenty of goals, plus Pool have Garcia and Gonzales on the left. I don’t see them needing to spend big to buy more players – just to get their strategy right, tweak a few things and have a better pre-season than before.
Manchester United learned their lesson this season – eschewing big money transfers for strategic tweaking, bringing in Carrick to provide defensive cover and fluidity to the midfield and having an excellent, injury-free pre-season that helped them to a 6-point lead at the start of April.
Where will Liverpool be next year, at this stage?
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