Rafa Happy With Transfer Dealings

By Mighty Reds
August 23 2005

Rafael Benitez is happy with his summer transfer dealings, and says the board of directors at Liverpool have backed him all the way.

With a right winger and central defender still to sign Rafa is confident his squad will be much stronger this season. There is still speculation that Michael Owen will sign before the transfer deadline and most Liverpool supporters are wishing for the speculation to become reality.

Rafa said:

"We find a player and say here is the price and then it's a yes or no.

"I said I wanted Pepe Reina and the club signed Pepe Reina, we wanted Crouch and the club signed Crouch, I say Sissoko and the club signed Sissoko and Zenden the same. I cannot say I've been frustrated.

"I cannot complain about money because the board have backed me. I have asked for players and they have delivered them. There is more money and we have more targets.

"The money we will get from the next phase of the Champions League, we have already planned to use. It is already spent because after the result in the first leg against CSKA Sofia we were confident we could progress.

"We want a centre-half, and the money from Baros will go towards that and paying for Peter Crouch. But we have other options. We are confident we will deliver them before the deadline if we secure the right price.

"It depends on the type of player and how much we have to pay. I have a responsibility to spend the money on a player who will be good enough for Liverpool - if I can't I won't spend the money.

"I went one whole year without signing one player for Valencia so I can handle that situation. But we have our ideas, we know where we are going.

"The most important thing for me is to have hungry players, not just players with a name or experience. We don't need a lot of money at the moment, just from the transfer of maybe Baros and then we can buy the players that we need."