I'm happy but I won't swear eternal love to anyone, says Pepe Reina
The last high-profile survivor of Liverpool's Spanish era says he has had offers to leave but opted to stay at Anfield
And then there was one. The question now is: how much longer will he stay? It is a question that the last high-profile survivor of Anfield's Spanish era, Pepe Reina, knows is coming as he strolls across the grass at the national team's Las Rozas HQ, northwest of Madrid, and eases into a seat on the bench by the training pitch.
He does not hide from the question but nor does he know the answer yet. Under different circumstances he might have left Anfield already, perhaps last summer. Since then his best friend has left the club.
When Fernando Torres defected to Chelsea in January Liverpool lost a forward but Reina lost his friend and neighbour (Luis Suárez has since moved into the former Torres residence). It is not just Torres who has moved on, though. Xabi Alonso has gone too. And Alvaro Arbeloa, Antonio Nuñez, Albert Riera, Mikel San José and Fernando Morientes. So too Rafael BenÃtez and his staff. Dani Pacheco is still around but the 20-year old has played only seven minutes in the league. Reina, Liverpool's third longest-serving current player after Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, is the last man standing.
"Well," he smiles, face lit by the lamps lining the path to the Spain team's residence where those former club-mates Arbeloa, Alonso and Torres await him, "not exactly: I have got 24 Liverpool team-mates, you know.
"But," he adds – and "but" is a word he uses often, "this is a sad time. I'm very good friends with Fernando and seeing him play against us in blue was strange. It made me feel a little nostalgic, sorry. When I got to Liverpool, there were five of us Spaniards plus the coaching staff and some of the physios. Now I'm the only one. I would have liked a lot of them to stay but it wasn't to be and I'm not panicking. That's the way football is.
"Liverpool is still Liverpool and always will be bigger than any player. The club belongs to its fans and the fans' loyalty is to the club – not a player or a passport. Kenny Dalglish was absolutely right: anyone that doesn't want to be at Liverpool can leave. Players will come and go."
First, the good news: "I am not," Reina says, "announcing my departure – far from it. I've said lots of times I'm very happy in England and comfortable at Liverpool. But …" But?
"But I'm not prepared to swear eternal love to anyone. That's impossible. Any player who says that is lying. I can't say much because I have a contract with Liverpool. But eternal love doesn't exist. No one is master of his own destiny. When a player is at club he has to give everything – that is all you can ask of him."
And that, Reina says, is exactly what Torres did. "Anyone who plays for Liverpool is proud to have done so – and Fernando certainly is. It was a hard decision, maybe the hardest Fernando has ever had. Those calling him a mercenary are wrong. They should remember great afternoons of football he gave us and the goals. Besides, he cost £23m and left for £50m. Football is about opportunities. It's understandable that Fernando wanted to improve and compete for titles. He aspired to get better as a player. The reality is Chelsea offered him something that, right now, Liverpool couldn't."
That something is Champions League football. For Liverpool the European situation could get even worse. There is a danger they will even miss out on the Europa League next season after Birmingham City's Carling Cup victory left one fewer European spot available to the Premier League. Last Sunday's dismal 3-1 defeat at relegation-threatened West Ham United showed how far Liverpool have to go.
Torres talked about being in a "dark place"; Chelsea offered him a shaft of light. Liverpool fans accused him of not giving Dalglish a chance; Reina has been impressed by the caretaker-manager's impact but he remains cautious.
"It's too soon to say everything has changed," he says. "Dalglish has proven a very important bridge, uniting fans and club. Basically, because he's Kenny Dalglish. As well as being a good coach he is a legend: fans are far more patient with him than with [Roy] Hodgson or even BenÃtez.
"He's a referencia [icon] who understands the club perfectly, what it feels and represents. He knows the fans and I think he is a very important appointment. Just like [the first-team coach] Steve Clarke: people aren't talking about him but he's proving very important. He takes the training sessions, comes up with ideas, proposes solutions, analyses the opposition. I really want to highlight him because he is doing a fantastic job; his work has been very productive."
But asked if players will be more patient under Dalglish, Reina's response is simple: "I honestly don't know. When I talk about patience, I'm talking about fans." Another but. "But it's too early to say that [we have stepped into the light]. We've got good results and it's easy to be optimistic but we have to look at the big picture and the reality is there are other teams above Liverpool. We have to accept that as natural. What a footballer wants above all else is to win, regardless of who the coach is.
"We used to fight to be among the top teams and to be in the Champions League but sadly that's not the case. I want to aspire to titles. Liverpool will always be a big club but we are not at the level of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea or Arsenal. That's the truth. Torres, Mascherano, Xabi Alonso … they were the foundation stone of a competitive Liverpool team. And now they're not here."
So could Reina find himself in a situation in which he, like Torres, felt "obliged" to depart? "I hope not. But I would never say: 'I'm never going,' because even I don't know that. It depends on how this season finishes, on how competitive we can be, on …" There is a pause as he searches for the right word. "The ambition. It depends, above all, on the ambition of the owners in building a better team; hopefully, they will be generous in their efforts but we know the economic reality." Again, he pauses and shifts in the blue plastic seat. "I can't say very much more to you because I have a contract for five years."
If, as Reina says, it was ambition that forced Torres towards the door, why has he not gone too. Is he not ambitious? "I'm ambitious, I'm ambitious," he says, quickly, interrupting.
So why is he still there? "That's the question. I imagine the fans will recognise my commitment, they will appreciate that. But those who say that Fernando is a mercenary or a money-grabber for going are wrong. Fernando gave them the opportunity in the summer by staying at the club and things haven't changed much.
"I've shown my commitment over the last six years. I renewed my contract at a very delicate, very difficult, time for the club; maybe the fans didn't see that, but I wanted to make that gesture. I gave them a chance, renewing my contract and not leaving this summer when I could have done so."
There were serious offers? "Yes," he says. "I stayed because I wanted to keep believing in Liverpool."
In fact, Reina, Torres and Gerrard – the club's three greatest assets – were told they could not leave at a time when the club were looking for a new buyer. Reina will not admit it and nor will he deny it. "The clauses in my contract are between me and the club," he says simply – but he secured a buy-out clause understood to be in the region of £20m. In the meantime, little changed to encourage him to stay. In fact, the handling of Torres's departure did the opposite. Loyalty cuts both ways.
"The offer for Torres came back again," Reina says simply. The offer for him did not. But it will. And then? Reina puffs out his cheeks. "I can't … I don't want to guess what the future holds."
Reina has already ruled out a move back to Spain, telling Onda Cero radio: "My place is in England." Arsenal's goalkeeping crisis has not gone unnoticed; nor has Edwin van der Sar's imminent retirement at Manchester United. For Liverpool fans the nightmare scenario emerges: lose to Manchester United tomorrow on Sunday and their rivals will step closer to taking their record of league titles off them and they could yet take their goalkeeper too.
If much of what Reina says about Torres applies to himself, there is one thing that does not. Torres ruled out United. Asked whether he would do the same, Reina replies: "No player can ever say no to anything."
"Romance, eternal love," he muses, "exists in very few cases. And that's a reality you just have to accept."
