Why Benitez Wanted Barry For Alonso...

[KingDing]

We go back to the summer of 2008, when the new Champions League rule which required every club to have a minimum of eight homegrown players in their 25-man squad, played havoc with Benitez's summer spending plans...
The two targets we identified were Robbie Keane, a striker at Tottenham Hotspur, and Gareth Barry, an England international midfielder at Aston Villa. I spoke to our senior players about both, and their responses were uniformly positive. Everyone saw them as the sort of signings that would suit us perfectly.

Barry appealed to us for a number of reasons. I have never been the sort of manager who prioritises a system above all else: I am willing to change and adapt my preferred formations given the strength of my squad or the requirements of a particular game. Barry was perfect: he could play as a central midfielder, of course, but he had some experience as an attacking left-back, which would be a useful option for home games where we were expected to go forward, and even as a left-winger. People who knew him told us he was a good professional, dedicated to his career, and a fine player. His nationality and price made him the ideal signing.

At the same time, we knew we needed another striker, someone to relieve the goal-scoring burden from Fernando Torres, and a player who could act as a partner, as well as a replacement. Keane's proven record for a number of clubs made him a good candidate. The problem, of course, as ever, was that we did not have that much money. The interest payments the Americans were giving to the banks as a result of the loans they had taken out to buy the club were eating into our transfer budget, so we had to be clever. It would be much easier if football was a case of just selling the players you no longer needed. It is not. Sometimes, you have to part with a valued asset.

We knew we would have to sell players that summer if we were to raise the funds to bring in the reinforcements - and, in particular, the British reinforcements - we needed. That would require parting company with one of our current squad members who would fetch a substantial fee. We decided that the most likely candidate was Xabi Alonso, who had been a great player for us since we signed him from Real Sociedad, but had not quite performed to his best in the last couple of years. He remained coveted on the continent and we knew we had to make a sacrifice if we were to build the squad we needed.

Juventus - no doubt still remembering his excellent performance against them in 2005 - had shown a strong interest, but they would not meet our valuation. They did not want to pay what Alonso was worth, hoping that we would be forced to lower our estimate as the summer wore on. That was not the case: we needed a certain amount, to cover the fee for Barry and give us some funds in reserve for other players. We could not afford to sell cheap.

The deal to sign Keane was rather more straightforward. Negotiations progressed smoothly, and confirmation of his signing sent a wave of confidence around the club. Everyone was delighted, the staff and the players, that we had managed to land one of our prime targets.

Negotiations with Aston Villa over Barry were much slower going, though. We could not agree a fee that we felt was suitable and it became increasingly clear there was little or no chance that a deal would be completed. At almost the same time as we made it plain to Juventus that they would have to meet our valuation if they wanted to sign Alonso, we pulled out of talks with Villa.

 

[Holle]

Get a job, Rafa.

 

[Hyena]

Get a job, Rafa.

That's not going to be easy
if he keeps writing about how he sold Alonso to fund Keane ...

 

[juniormember]

That's not going to be easy
if he keeps writing about how he sold Alonso to fund Keane ...

Errr...

 

[Richey]

Didn't the story always go that he didn't want Keane, or that he only wanted Keane if he got Barry or something like that?

This seems to suggest that they were entirely separate deals and he wanted both of them. Was the other story just, well, made up?

 

[Bradley]

Didn't the story always go that he didn't want Keane, or that he only wanted Keane if he got Barry or something like that?

This seems to suggest that they were entirely separate deals and he wanted both of them. Was the other story just, well, made up?

That is what I thought and was the reason Keane got turfed out after 6 months.

This version of the story suggests Rafa messed up by signing Keane and didn't know how to use him despite having 'never been the sort of manager who prioritises a system above all else: I am willing to change and adapt my preferred formations given the strength of my squad or the requirements of a particular game.'

 

[gkmacca]

Make it stop.

 

[localny]

I agree, too much rehashing is damaging him. We've all had situations to deal with. Time to move on.

 

[Rosco]

Didn't the story always go that he didn't want Keane, or that he only wanted Keane if he got Barry or something like that?

This seems to suggest that they were entirely separate deals and he wanted both of them. Was the other story just, well, made up?

Yup.

 

[juniormember]

Fecking negativity...
I for one find it interesting reading inside stories about different eras of our club, and the era where we won the FA cup, got to two European finals (winning one of them), league cup final, second in the league etc I find particularly interesting.
Don't get why so many people on here find it so joyous to make snide remarks when a former manager of ours, most successful in 20 years, either writes or gets interviewed about what went on behind the scenes.
He'll certainly never walk alone with this obsession by some of you.

 

[SaintGeorge67]

Well said.

 

[Silver Sean]

Fecking negativity...
I for one find it interesting reading inside stories about different eras of our club, and the era where we won the FA cup, got to two European finals (winning one of them), league cup final, second in the league etc I find particularly interesting.
Don't get why so many people on here find it so joyous to make snide remarks when a former manager of ours, most successful in 20 years, either writes or gets interviewed about what went on behind the scenes.
He'll certainly never walk alone with this obsession by some of you.

Well put.

 

[King Binny]

There's the Jovetic (scored 4 in 3 this season) interest, as well as the Distin or Upson as cover and Alves as a right winger. Agree with junior its interesting to know the thinking and behind the scenes info - whether we agree with them or not, and whether they happened.

 

[gkmacca]

Go and buy his bloody book and wallow in the past. I don't dislike him at all and appreciate what he did for the club (and his Academy changes are only just bearing fruit), but I've as little desire to go over and over these stories again and again as watch any of the retro docs on LFCTV. He needs to move on, and so do we.

 

[juniormember]

Go and buy his bloody book and wallow in the past. I don't dislike him at all and appreciate what he did for the club (and his Academy changes are only just bearing fruit), but I've as little desire to go over and over these stories again and again as watch any of the retro docs on LFCTV. He needs to move on, and so do we.

Bet you clicked on the thread link and read the whole damn article though!
I understand what you're saying of course, but as I've said there's interest there in what he has to say, so can't see the problem.
Maybe I'm not interested enough to buy his book, but reading a few paragraphs at a time is fine.

 

[StevieM]

We can't move on till we've dissected the horrible failure that was not signing Simao - he was in a plane on the tarmac ready to go.

So close.....

Hey... Who ended up getting Zidane's house?

 

[juniormember]

We can't move on till we've dissected the horrible failure that was not signing Simao - he was in a plane on the tarmac ready to go.

So close.....

Hey... Who ended up getting Zidane's house?

Hey! That was the Houllier era!

 

[StevieM]

If only we'd signed Charlie Nicholas & Brian Laudrup the 80's would have been much more successful.

 

[StevieM]

..... and Teddy Sheringham...

 

[gkmacca]

I suppose there HAS been another manager of the same calibre who put his career on hold at its prime, but I can't think of one. It's just a shame.

 

[StevieM]

I suppose there HAS been another manager of the same calibre who put his career on hold at its prime, but I can't think of one. It's just a shame.

Dalglish.

 

[Richey]

Fecking negativity...
I for one find it interesting reading inside stories about different eras of our club, and the era where we won the FA cup, got to two European finals (winning one of them), league cup final, second in the league etc I find particularly interesting.
Don't get why so many people on here find it so joyous to make snide remarks when a former manager of ours, most successful in 20 years, either writes or gets interviewed about what went on behind the scenes.
He'll certainly never walk alone with this obsession by some of you.

Actually I also found this interesting, as I said in my post. I have never really believed the theory that Keane was bought against the wishes of Benitez and this helps to clear that matter up.

 

[Dreambeliever]

Why are we talking about Rafa again?

 

[Richey]

Why are we talking about Rafa again?

The question is surely why is Benitez talking about Liverpool again?

Seriously though, it is a valid thread. If any former manager or player wrote or said something about the club I should imagine we would talk about it.

 

[Dreambeliever]

The question is surely why is Benitez talking about Liverpool again?

Seriously though, it is a valid thread. If any former manager or player wrote or said something about the club I should imagine we would talk about it.

He's like an ex gf stalking us. If we had a FB account he's have it opened 24/7 and look up anyone that liked any of our posts.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

Yup.

In fact wasn't the story at the time that he was Rick Parry's signing, still its obviously not Rafas fault it did not work out, it was those senior players that thought it was a great idea.
Seriously Rafa does need to move on, he always has been a little obsessive, but this is getting daft

regards

 

[Markeh]

Seriously Rafa does need to move on, he always has been a little obsessive, but this is getting daft

Yea, I love Rafa but he's starting to sound like a whingey mate that split up with his girlfriend ages ago and still goes on about it.