Benitez denies quit rumours
17 Aug 2008 - 09:11:48
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has dismissed the latest reports suggesting that he could quit the club, following the almost certain collapse of the deal to sign Aston Villa's Gareth Barry.
Benitez is clearly frustrated at not being able to add England midfielder Barry to his squad, but said he has no thoughts of leaving following the 1-0 victory at Sunderland.
He commented: "I don't read headlines on the day of the game, but my commitment is 100 per cent with the fans, with the players and with the club in general.
"I say 100 times my family is happy here, we want to win trophies at this club because it is a massive club.
"If we have problems because we are not doing things which, in my opinion as a manager we could do, I will work as hard as I can for the club.
"I will not talk about any player, but in April I was talking about this (Barry).
"We tried to do things in confidentiality, but sometimes you cannot and you need to explain before the end of the transfer window.
"If the manager has an idea and it is not a question of money, then we have to make the right decisions in terms of whom we bring in. That has to be the decision of the manager.
"I was in contact with Tom Hicks and he told me we had the money. We have sold players for more than £20million in the summer and he told me 'if you sell players you can buy with that too'.
"I have the support of at least one of the owners. I sent emails to all of them, but he (Hicks) was clear we had the money.
"It is not something that I can explain. You have to analyse it, but to me it is clear - they were supporting me if we had money and we do have money."