Rafael Benitez goes on all-out attack over Gareth Barry transfer
RAFAEL BENITEZ has vented his anger over Liverpool's inability to tie up a deal for Gareth Barry - but insisted that he remains committed to the Anfield outfit.
The frustrated Spaniard had been considering resigning as manager last week but had been talked around by friends.
However, after his side got off to a 1-0 winning start in the first game of their new Premier League campaign at Sunderland, Benitez claimed that he has no intentions of walking out on the club even though the unresolved transfer saga over longtime target Barry rumbles on.
Benitez said: "My commitment with the club is 100% with the fans and the players. I have said it 100 times my family is happy here. The club is a massive club and the supporters are a nation.
"You have problems when you are not doing things that in my opinion as a manager you have to do, in terms of signing players.
"I will be fighting and working as hard as I can. I won't talk about any player because in April we talked about this and no one knew anything before.
"Usually we like to do things with confidentiality but sometimes you cannot. If you have the support of the owners who say you have the money then you make decisions to sign or not.
"I talked about what I wanted in April. I had a player in mind and an idea. I told them they have to buy top class players with the money we are bringing in. All the owners should be really pleased. The question is why we cannot do it (buy Barry)."
With Villa determined to hold out for their £18million valuation of their unsettled skipper who is desperate to make the move to Anfield, Benitez is unable to explain why the deal has been held up for so long but he insists that Liverpool will have to speed up transfer negotiation in the future.
He said: "They (the owners) did not say no before. They said no after four months.
"After four month they said the player is expensive. In four months they said we will have to do something else maybe.
"We have to be quicker. I said this four years ago. It is easier to sign players. I will fight and try to improve the squad.
" I will make mistakes, that is normal, but when you analyse your squad and you have an idea and you know you need eight British players and you have money to spend and bring player in, it is easy to understand."
With Liverpool needing to raise extra funds to seal the Barry deal having already spent £20million on Robbie Keane, £16million-rated Xabi Alonso has been linked with a move away from Anfield all summer but Benitez, who left the Spanish international out of his starting line-up due to a 'dead leg' which meant he could only operate at "80%", insists that he wants to keep the player.
He said: "He is our player. He is playing well. I am trying to keep the balance in the team.
"I was talking to Tom Hicks and he told me we have the money. We are not that far apart. If we sell one or two players we have enough money to sign another good player. I was in contact with one of them (the owners) he was answering me.
"He was clear that we had some money and that if we sell some players we can buy some.
"I was told we had money plus the money we can bring in. It was not a question of money. It is something I can't explain. It is clear that they were supporting me if we had the money."
Benitez admitted that the prospect of Alonso being sold had been discussed but that was when he had to generate his own funds but he no longer needs to bolster his transfer kitty and wants to retain the former Real Sociedad man's services.
He said: "I explained why I needed money by selling players.
"You have Mascherano, Lucas , Gerrard and Plessis. You can sell maybe one player and we need eight British players.
"I need to bring British players and I needed a left-footed player.
"With Xabi, we needed the money. After some months when we were bringing money in it was not a question of money, it was a question of keeping the balance. In this moment, I don't know.
"We will have to receive a massive offer because Xabi is a good player. The question is have we done things in the right order or not."
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keep alonso & get barry. we need them bampi