Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez
James Pearce: Race against time for Liverpool FC as Xabi Alonso gets set to go
Aug 1 2009 by James Pearce, Liverpool Echo
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RAFA BENITEZ enjoyed a victory of sorts this week. His move to crank up the pressure on Xabi Alonso by insisting his fate was in his own hands and giving him a deadline to sort out his future finally broke the deadlock in the summer-long transfer saga.
Alonso, who had been loathe to upset supporters by publicly demanding a move, finally caved in and put his cards on the table.
The 27-year-old put in writing what he had verbally told Benitez back in May – he wants to join the Florentino Perez revolution at Real Madrid.
His hopes of getting away and claiming he was the innocent party in a transaction between two clubs have been dashed.
Benitez can no longer be portrayed as willingly selling one of the club’s most classy performers.
Liverpool will now reluctantly do business with Real and negotiations between the clubs over a fee have resumed.
It’s difficult to establish who holds the stronger bargaining position.
Real officials have reiterated that signing Alonso is crucial to their hopes of knocking Barcelona off their perch next season.
But they also feel that now Alonso has made it clear he wants to leave, Liverpool should drop the asking price or risk holding on to an unhappy player whose heart is no longer at Anfield.
Liverpool in turn will insist £30million is a fair price to pay for a Spanish international in the form of his life who still has three years remaining on his current contract.
The fact that Real could stump up £80million for Cristiano Ronaldo suggests they wouldn’t have to dig too deep to give the Reds what they want.
One thing is clear, with the Premier League opener at Tottenham just a fortnight away, time is not on Benitez’s side and it’s vital an agreement is swiftly reached.
The Reds’ whole transfer strategy depends on getting the Alonso deal done.
Benitez spent most of his kitty on the £16million purchase of Glen Johnson from Portsmouth, while other cash was taken up by getting key players to commit to new long-term deals.
Since Johnson arrived, Benitez has known he could only spend what he could raise from player sales.
