Sunday, 28th March 2010
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has moved to assure fans that even if the club fail to qualify for the Champions League his transfer budget will not suffer hugely, chiefly because it is not huge to begin with.
Reports from Spain recently had suggested Benitez would be handed a €33M (£30M) budget this summer, but such a sum is hardly considered enough to combat the twin threats of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur for The Reds place in the top four, and could explain the Spaniard’s comments.
"They [the club’s US owners] told me before that it [Champions League qualification] didn’t make a big difference. Every year we have qualified for the Champions League it hasn’t made a big difference so if we don’t qualify this time I don’t expect a big difference."
With the purse strings so tight at Anfield the summer window could be crucial and Benitez will need to ensure mistakes of the likes of Robbie Keane and Andrea Dossena are not repeated.
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