http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article7150153.ece
From Times Online
June 15, 2010
Benayoun could prompt Anfield exodus
Tony Barrett
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Yossi Benayoun has taken a significant step towards leaving Liverpool for Chelsea by agreeing in principle a four-year contract with the Barclays Premier League champions.
Although a fee has yet to be agreed between the clubs, such is Benayoun’s determination to quit Anfield that Liverpool officials have been braced for his departure for some time.
Benayoun, 30, is known to have fallen out with Rafael BenÃtez and it was widely assumed that the Israel midfield player would stay if the manager left. But even the removal of BenÃtez from the equation has not been enough to convince him to remain.
Chelsea are keen to recruit Benayoun to fill the void that will be created when Joe Cole leaves Stamford Bridge on a free transfer this summer and have made Liverpool an offer in the region of £4 million.
That bid has been rejected by Liverpool, who feel Benayoun is worth at least twice that amount. But the club are increasingly resigned to his departure and a compromise fee of about £5.5 million is likely to be agreed.
Benayoun has completed only 12 months of a four-year contract worth £55,000 a week and only last month claimed that “if it depended on me, I would stay here and retire in Liverpool. The fans are the best in the world, but it depends on a lot of things.â€
However, the lure of playing in next season’s Champions League, for which Liverpool failed to qualify, and a substantial pay rise have contributed to Benayoun’s desire to leave the club he joined from West Ham United in July 2007.
Should Benayoun complete his move to West London, he could be the first of a number of players to leave Liverpool in what is likely to be a summer of upheaval in the wake of BenÃtez’s exit.
Javier Mascherano is keen to follow the Spaniard to Inter Milan and is learning Italian while on World Cup duty with Argentina. Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have refused to discuss their futures until after the tournament and are waiting to see if Liverpool can match their ambitions before deciding whether to stay or go.
A number of other players are up for sale, with Liverpool open to offers for Ryan Babel, Albert Riera and Philipp Degen, among others, while Diego Cavalieri, the club’s second-choice goalkeeper, is seeking a transfer to secure regular first-team football, having been understudy to Pepe Reina for two years.
It is against this backdrop that Liverpool continue their search for a new manager. Club officials are adamant that they will not be rushed into a replacement for BenÃtez despite speculation suggesting that Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager who is widely believed to be their No 1 target, was hoping to be offered the job before travelling to South Africa this week.
Hodgson will be aware that popular support for Kenny Dalglish, his long-time friend, to become BenÃtez’s successor is growing on Merseyside, with the Liverpool legend having made it clear that he would like to be considered for the position.
While Hodgson has not made a decision to leave Fulham, it is understood that he would like to hear what Liverpool have to say.
Liverpool, though, are comfortable with the way that their recruitment process is going, the desire to ensure that they attract the best possible manager available overriding any yearning to make a hasty appointment that they could come to regret.
That leaves Hodgson, who is working as a BBC pundit at the World Cup, in limbo to a degree, unsure whether he will be the subject of the formal approach that had seemed to be inevitable only a week ago.