Full English the order of the day for Rafa
-
Rafa Benitez has opened the door on a bevy of speculation with his admission that he is likely to focus much of his summer recruitment drive on English players.
Benitez has previously not been averse to scouring the domestic market but often with mixed success. Peter Crouch always split opinion, while Jermaine Pennant and Scott Carson both failed to cement themselves at Anfield.
His Spanish homeland has where the Liverpool manager has had most triumph with the likes of Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres but he knows that Champions League rules mean that he can no longer ignore homegrown talents.
Gareth Barry was oh-so close to moving to Anfield last summer and his is a name, along with Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson, that will inevitably be linked with the club in the coming months.
“It’s difficult to say how many we want to bring in,” said Benitez. “We need eight English players in the Champions League squad.
“Both the fans and the staff want good English players, but mainly good players. So if the good players are English, that is better.
“We have very good players in the spine and that’s often the most important thing. We can improve a little bit in certain areas but overall we don’t need a lot of players.
“When we first came here we had to improve a lot. We often didn’t have the money or the options to bring in all the players we wanted and we weren’t quite there.
“Now, everybody knows we are so close that if we want to bring in a top-class player it will be easier. We can say, ‘come to Liverpool because you will win trophies in the future’ and I think these players will come.
“I think we are better placed than the others to challenge United in the long term.”