Rafa to decide on future

13 March 2009 07:34
Rafa Benitez wants to make a decision on his future at Liverpool in the next two weeks and has played down talk he will join Real Madrid.[LNB] The Liverpool manager's current contract expires at the end of next season and his position at Anfield has been uncertain for several months.[LNB]Talks with Reds owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks regarding an extension have made slow progress and he has been linked with a move to Real in the summer.[LNB]But Benitez says he is happy to be working in the Premier League and is hoping to reach an agreement for a new deal on Merseyside.[LNB]Wonderful club"Next week I am going to study my present and my future with my bosses," said Benítez. "I have to decide on my future in the next two weeks.[LNB]"People who see me leaving for Madrid are wrong. I have a contract with Liverpool, I owe Liverpool and I am only thinking about Liverpool. I am happy here and there is a project under way. I have been here for five years and [if I was to stay] from now on things would be easier.[LNB]"I want a medium or long-term project. I don't want to be working day to day, always hanging on the latest result, without a programme to follow or an idea to develop over a period of time. [LNB]"What I want is hard to find in Spain. Long-term projects do not exist [in Spain], like they do in England. I am young as coaches go and I can't predict my future. [LNB]"Real Madrid are a great club, a very great club, but I am at another wonderful club - one that really motivates me. I will work where I feel I can develop a project."[LNB]Not a cry-babyBenitez also dismissed criticism of his team's style of play, and insists it is 'very difficult' for Liverpool to match title rivals Chelsea and Manchester United.[LNB]He added: "Competing with Manchester United and Chelsea is very difficult. I am not a cry-baby, but they have enough money to sign five £20m players and, if one or two of them doesn't succeed, they have three more. [LNB]"I can sign two of them and, if one doesn't succeed or I make a mistake with one, then you really notice it.[LNB]"I have been given a tag that I do not deserve and is not true. I keep saying so, but it doesn't do any good. Last season we scored 119 goals - more than anyone else in England.[LNB]"Liverpool don't just hoof the ball, as I keep reading and hearing. We have produced some very good performances to get to two Champions League finals and a semi-final in the last four years. We are the best team in Europe over the last five years."[LNB]

Source: SKY_Sports