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In the Shoes of… Rafa Benitez

Published by Ian John on March 3, 2010

Not a job for the feint of heart this one. Poor Rafa’s been under a lot of pressure lately. Not only has his team endured a pitiful season so far, the club is strapped for cash (according to some), the owners of the club seem to want to get rid as soon as possible (either of him, or the club entirely) for an inordinate amount of money and there is increasing talk of a Manchester City mega bid for Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, the acceptance of which would be the equivalent for Liverpool as what the meteor crash was for the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

What Rafa can do is seemingly dictated to by money. If his board can give him some serious spending money and he can steer his side into the Champions League again next season, then given the miserable year his side has endured and the criticism of his team on being too reliant on Gerrard and Torres, then I would expect at least two big signings in the summer. My money would be on Juan Manuel Mata from Valencia and either Carlton Cole of West Ham or Kenwyne Jones of Sunderland.

If money is not forthcoming, then Liverpool are going to be looking around the free agent market and the bargain basement once again. They seem to have lost out in the race for Marouane Chamakh, who seems set to pick Arsenal, but I would hope to see Benitez make a move for someone of the calibre of Joe Cole, who I think would make an excellent acquisition, provided the club could afford his signing fee and wages.

However the first thing Rafa I think would need to do before he even considers buying, is to sell. Never easy at the best of times but this summer, with a World Cup Finals, could prove to be an excellent time for him to get rid of several under-performing stars to at least bring in some much needed cash. Unless we see a big improvement from the likes of Ryan Babel or Albert Riera, then I’d consider selling these players. Fabio Aurielo seems set to leave when his contract expires and there is believed to be plenty of interest in Yossi Benayoun and Javier Mascherano, both of whom I would be loathe to sell, but would have to sacrifice if the right offer came in. I’d also sell a great many of the older “fringe” players who have contributed little or nothing, other than playing in occasional Carling Cup game. I’d also be looking to promote some of the talented youngsters, such as Dani Pacheco and Luciano Della Valle. What is the point of signing these talented youngsters if you won’t even give them a chance?

So the key areas of needs for Benitez to address during the summer, from my point of view are as follows…

1. Attack : Ngog is willing but too young, ineffective and inexperience to lead the line at the highest level. Torres needs a proper partner. Cole or Jones seem to be the ones Benitez is most keen on, though I do wonder at the logic of selling Peter Crouch for £6m, to replace him with Cole or Jones for fees nearer £12m.

2. Wide Midfield : Too often, Liverpool’s lack of pace and inability to get behind teams sees them slow the game down to a snails pace. A pacy, wide midfielder is what is required. Mata was linked several months ago and he is young, talented and left footed. Personally I’d make a move for Mata and Sevilla right winger Navas, but I think the likelihood of signing both is slimmer than Victoria Beckham in profile.

3. A quality left back. Insua is too slow. Technically fine and a hard worker, but his lack of pace is plainly evident at times against the quicker players. Liverpool badly need a proper left back in the Ashley Cole mould (minus the philandering and nude pictures taken on the phone). It is finding one that is available that is the difficulty. My choice would be to look to the country that produces pacy talented left footed defenders more so than any other. Brazil. The name? Adriano Correa Claro, who plays his football in Spain for Sevilla.

So it would be a big summer. Plenty of names out of the club and a fair few in. It is drastic, but after the season Liverpool have had, I think they need something drastic to get back on track.

It’s just a case of whether they have the money and pulling power to achieve this, without selling their two prized assets.

Image Courtesy of ***aditya_sriwasth’s*** at Flickr.com

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