Re: Xabi Alonso will stay at Anfield, says Rafa Benitez
Don´t know if this has been reported already...and it deserves a separate thread imo.
Sad.
Alonso hands in Liverpool transfer request - report
By Soccernet staff
Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has handed in a transfer request at Anfield to try and force the pace of his move to Real Madrid.
The former Real Socieded star flew back from Spain on Thursday after a short break, determined to secure his move to La Liga.
A club source has confirmed Alonso handed in a written transfer request, having only previously told Rafa Benitez verbally that he wanted out of Anfield.
Liverpool have refused to budge from an asking price for Alonso in the region of £30m, which has stalled any potential move to the Bernabeu, but his transfer request, coupled with an upped offer from Madrid, may secure the deal.
Benitez spent Liverpool's tour of the Far East trying to convinve Alonso to stay but it appears to have failed.
Since Real's first bid of around £24m, both parties have been engaged in a war of words over the deal, with Real president Florentino Perez maintaining that Liverpool's valuation was much too high.
Alonso was unsettled last summer as Benitez tried to sell him on to raise funds to make a bid for Gareth Barry.
Now it seems he has his heart set on a move to the Bernabeu and is ready to end his five-year stay at Anfield.
Don´t know if this has been reported already...and it deserves a separate thread imo.
Sad.