By Football Talk.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has admitted that this season has been a huge disappointment and the squad needs up to five more players to avoid a similar campaign next year, although he refused to be drawn on whether he would be at Anfield beyond the end of this season.
Liverpool were dumped out of the Europa League last night by Atletico Madrid, ending any hopes of a silver lining to what has been a disastrous season. The Red’s failed to get through their champions leagues group stage, exited both domestic cup competitions in the early rounds and currently lay seventh in the premier league and look set to miss out on champions league football next season. Which prompted many of Liverpool’s top stars to urge investment in the squad, something that Benitez is in full agreement of.
‘Two or three of the players have said we need three, four or five more,’ stated Benitez, ‘and I agree with them. The goal we conceded here sums up the season, you could say that. It has been one of those seasons where everything has gone against us, though the players could be very proud because they were working so hard.
‘But this season has not been good enough. Every team can have a bad season, but now we just have to finish it in the right way over the next two games and then prepare for next year.
‘I do not think that going out tonight will change whether we can attract players. This is a massive club, we will try to do our best and the name of the club will still be here, and that will not change.’
In recent weeks the Liverpool boss has indicated he would need around £40-£60m to bring in the players he feels they need to compete at the top, however he is in the dark about whether any funds would be made available this summer, or if he would be the one spending it.
“I do not know whether I will have any funds. We will find out in the summer. But the name is there and we have to do our best for it.”
‘Things have changed in the past,’ he said, ‘and we had to be a company, to balance the books and to manage in this way. I do not know what will happen in the summer’
“The future is Chelsea and then Hull. All my focus is on the next game, that’s the future for me, but no one from the club has spoken to me about mine.”
Do Liverpool fans think Benitez will be at the club next season? Do you want him to be? Please leave your comments below…
