1 Feb 2013

'New challenges' - Rafa Benitez sends a message to Coutinho and Pacheco

The Demba Ba deal aside, Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez had a rather uneventful January transfer window, but many of his former players were on the move to different clubs, and the ex-Liverpool manager has posted a message on his website wishing them all well.

Earlier this evening, Benitez - who is still trying to win over sceptical Chelsea fans - posted the following statement:

"I would like to wish all the best to Momo Sissoko, Dani Pacheco, Emiliano Insua and Philippe Coutinho, who have just changed clubs in the january transfer window and face new challenges in their careers as footballers.

"I wish you all the best of luck in their new professional environments: Momo at Fiorentina, Dani in Huesca, Emiliano at Atletico Madrid and Philippe at Liverpool".


Benitez signed all four of the aforementioned players for previous clubs: Sissoko, Pacheco and Insua for Liverpool, and Philippe Coutinho for Inter Milan (he arrived at the club when Benitez was in charge)

Benitez wasted a lot of money on dross over the years, but he also signed some fantastic players along the way, and although he left in 2010, his transfer legacy is still benefiting the club today.

Suso, Raheem Sterling and Jonjo Shelvey are great example of this: All three were signed by Benitez, and over the last year, the trio have forced their way into the first team, and could become regulars for years to come.

The same goes for Coutinho: Benitez oversaw the arrival of the Brazilian during his ill-fated spell at Inter Milan, and gave him his debut. Now, he's at Liverpool, and hopefully set to make a big impact at the club. After signing for Milan, Coutinho thanked the Spaniard for giving him a chance:

"I am grateful to Benitez. He was the first to give me a chance, he gave me confidence and space."

Liverpool Assistant manager Colin Pascoe confirmed this afternoon that Coutinho will not feature against Manchester City on Sunday. It's a shame as most fans are excited to see the Brazilian play, but there's no sense in rushing him into the team, especially with his (recent) injury history.

If Coutinho, Sterling, Suso and Shelvey become important players for Liverpool, then Reds fans will thanking Benitez for years to come (yes, even me!*)



* Subject to change ;-)

NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


54 comments:

  1. what????  ok, I'm not sure what galaxy you are from. And i know you look like Jaimie but who are you, and what have you done with the real Jaimie Kanwar .......... you damn aliens just can't get the little things right our Jaimie would never have said that  :)

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  2. Insua, at the time he was our only left back, thrown into the first team, some weaknesses discovered, and then thrown out of the club. Now look at him. It proves that most players will come good. 

    Hendo is proving it too, so hopefully Allen and Borini can do it as well. 

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  3. He did more then that though, he developed the full academy and tried to make it like Barcas La Masia, a lot of people forget this though or dont realise it. He brought a lot of Barca coaches along to develop it. Hence why we have a lot of cracking youngsters ready to break through. Dont get me wrong he made some mistakes but he did a lot right with the best interest of LFC at heart.

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  4. insua is a perfect example of why the criticism of coates is way over the top. i knew it was a mistake to sell insua (hodgson and dalglish did a good job of getting rid of a lot of promising (mostly foreign) players), and a similar thing would happen if we sold coates. i still do find it hard to take that we sold insua because even though everyone said he was slow, he actually wasnt that slow at all, he just got showed up by aaron lennon once, something even the likes of evra have experienced. im pleased for insua though that he is proving himself as a top player, and proving me right as well. i'm not a manager but it doesnt mean i cant tell a good player when i see one.

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  5. Rafa didnt sign Coutinho, he was signed 2 years before.  he stayed at Vasco in Brazil for 2 years and then moved to Inter.  His arrival coincided with Benitez's.  I will say that Rafa is the only manager at Inter that gave him a run of games.

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  6. he did, they don't, he did, there are, he most definitely did, he had, he went.

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  7. Not really - I've moved on from Benitez tbh. If any of the kids develop into stars, then I'll give the credit to the manager that develops them into first team stars.

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  8. Thank you for Rafa Benitez to your bigger contribution.But i still remember dealing Aquilani,Milan Jovanovic,Andry Voronin,Sebastian Leto,Jan Krompkramp is not very succesfully.

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  9. True say zanz but benitez signed some bargins aswell
    agger(6 million)
    Alonso(10 million)
    Riena (8 million)
    Skertal(6 milliin)
    Jojo shelvey(1 million)
    Suso (565,000)
    Sterling(1 million)
    Glen jhonson (16 million)


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  10. Lol Rafa let em go mate. Your not their manager anymore, perhaps focus on the bunch of spuds you control now.
    I know off topic slightly but it has proven at Chelsea this season that Stevie G was the main reason why we fired in 08/09. Rafa and Fernando are lost without our great captain dragging em on for the ride!

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  11. The whole wide world knows that,you are sososo out.

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  12. Apa khabar,Things always turnout positive and negative,look on the bright side.

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  13. I would say what rafa done on transfer was very very good for liverpool,you gotta admit we do have lots of world class player during then but i don't see any failure in those poor or average player because most of them come cheap or FREE and we still earn some money from transfer on them.
    No body is 100% perfect,How many &*%@#$ players red nose sign turnout much worst than RAFA's transfer?
    Overall he's good but his defensive play sometime getin to my nerve.

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  14. Go back to ur cave red oz.bye bye

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  15. KD brought A Carroll for 35mln hendo 20mln and downing 20 mln and rafa with that money bought torres,alonso skrtel agger reina sterling shelvey suso dani mascherano johnson lucas and most importantly kept stevie and gave a different position to carrra. Now make your judgement?

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  16. I like that he expanded the academy, but it's a long way from La Masia. Eventually time will tell on that one, but even if you discount the talent gap of young players, it's still a long way off.

    I still like Rafa, and think he's still got the best interests of LFC at heart, it's why he's still playing Torres when a better player is riding the bench.

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  17. you are so true with that money we just missed out on winning the prem.since Kenny we have invested so far (br summer and winter transfers) 138 mill pounds. 

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  18. I agree that Benitez had some big hits but KD was only in charge for 18 months. He signed Suarez, Enrique and got johnson playing the best football he's played in years.
    I Prefer both men over Hodgson but these days all my faith goes to rogers

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  19. Rafa's legacy can be seen at Kirkby, even bigger than Istanbul 2005...............history will show his changes at Kirkby were huge going forward!!!

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  20. I still think Rafa knew how to attract world class European players to Liverpool and I'm even surprised to know he brought in young budding talent. Currently we are yet to witness some world class player being brought in and don't justify it with price tags, because there have been good teams bringing in world class players at mediocre prices, something Liverpool used to do, which now seems only a distant dream

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  21. Are you trying to take the p*ss out of my grammar you jumped up little urchin?

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  22. I did say 'tried' mate.

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  23. no. if you read your own post, you will see that i am replying to each point you made. i wouldn't dream of taking the p*ss out of a fellow red..........

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  24. It's easy to look back with rosé-tinted glasses as RB and BR are not as opposite as their initials suggest. RB brought loads if youth to the club but rarely gave emerging talent a chance to play consistently. BR believes the future is in the youth and gives them the chance and the coaching to do it. We are playing better football now than at any time in the last five years so we are clearly moving forward but hey, if mature LFC fans admit it, we always knew this was going to be a season of rebuilding and developing under BR and frankly I am surprised we are doing as well so relatively quickly. Long way to go, granted, but signs are good. So thanks RB for your talent at finding youth. After that it takes a lot of work to fulfil potential and our youth coaches are doing that. Now my energies are put into supporting our current manager who IS doing a good job and has spent a very good £20m on two players who could really make a difference. Better than the same for a waste of space like the jumped up Spurs striker who came in, was utterly useless because he wasnt the centre of the team and then sold on for a huge loss and has done nothing anywhere since! No need to mention names is there! :0)

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  25. You can add Torres to that list too, bought for £22m, sold for £50m. 

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  26. Insua was fantastic that season. He was a scape goat  and shouldnt have been sold. Would be a better option at left back today than having Wisdom playing on the right and Johnson there

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  27. I didn't know Gerrard played for Valencia once upon a time!

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  28. We've got Enrique, Downing, Henderson and Suarez from Dalglish/Comolli; Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Lucas, Suso, Sterling, Shelvey, Wisdom and Kelly from Rafa. Konchesky, Poulsen, Meireles and Cole are gone. Jones is the only Hodgson player we've got.

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  29. Bunny Rodgers our manager in charge now. His first season. He'll bring us back in top. We started like shi*te this season, and now 7. Im all right with BR. Next season he'll have to prove better though!
    YNWA

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  30. I don't know if he has been that much of a succes in Portugal but well lets see how he does in a league that is better than the Portuguese one. May have become better and consistent but whether he is good enough for a big club in a top league is a question that still hasn't been answered yet. Got a battle on his hands for a first XI spot as Filipe is usually first pick for left back and is a pretty damn good player. 

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  31. Haha thought you where bein sarky pal. Was also a bit drunk/wired from the nights shenanigans. Apologies.

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  32. Suarez was signed way before KD was to come at the club !!!
    Anfield legend but all of his singings where bad and very very expensive !!!!!

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  33. Suso, Sterling and Coutinho I believe will all become very good if not great players, Shelvey erm.. not so much

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  34. Another being Gabriel Paletta, was voted one of our worst ever players and yet is now 26 and playing for Parma in Serie A, he is not spectacular, but is certainly a solid defender and yet another Rafa signing.

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  35. Aquilani is a good player and was playing extremely well in the back end of Rafa's last season and had Rafa had stayed on, he would have been a key player for us, it was bad man management by Hodgson and Dalglish to send him away. Milan Jovanovic was also misused by Hodgson and wasn't given the chance to play under Rafa who signed him. Andriy Voronin is not a bad player, he just wasn't suited to the Prem League. Sebastian Leto didn't get the chance because of the work permit fiasco, but is a very good player and is one of the best players in the Greek League. Jan Kromkamp was if I'm not mistaken used as part of the deal by Valencia to sign Morientes from us. Again he is a good player but wasn't suited to the Prem League.

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  36. Is that the defensive play like in the 2008/09 season when we were the top scorers in not just the Prem League, but the country? It is a misconception that we were an overly defensive side under Rafa, we were actually in the top 5 scorers in the league under Rafa.

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  37. Rafa is showing his respect to these players. And by the way, 08/09, Stevie was injured for most of the season, so it was more of a team effort. Benayoun played a big part in that season.

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  38. Dare I say Luis Suarez.

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  39. Any time in the last 5 years? 08/09 was the best football we played. In one week, we scored 4 goals in each game against 3 teams, those teams? (Not necessarily in order) Man Utd, Real Madrid and Arsenal. 

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  40. Look at the way Shelvey plays and the way Stevie played at the same age, they are very similar types of players and Shelvey has all the potential and talent to be just as successful as Stevie.

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  41. Let's get this straight, Benitez might have shelled out a shed load of money on youngsters and coaches( how many backroom staff did he have?), but did he ever give a chance to any of the youngsters in the academy? Benitez for all his starting success as liverpool manager came up short in the long term straight jacketing the team to take no risk, blames squad depth and injuries for a bad result, and spends like a kept wife of a billionaire and still feels hard done by. Although there is potential in the new players bought under Benitez, to suggest he had hands on involvement in the youth academy and their development past signing them is foolhardy. He barely spoke to some perifery first team players as has been stated before. The praise should go to the coaches. Benitez should get credit for bringing them into the first team and giving them their chance.....which by recollection, he seldom did....El Zhar anyone? 

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  42. he gave first team chances to young players like ngog, el zhar, dani pacheco, insua, kelly and ayala and to be fair we didnt have that many top prospects while he was here as he had to wait for his hard work to bare fruit. im pretty sure nemeth, dalla valle and kacaniklic had futures under rafa too as they played in some pre-season games. so i think its unfair to say he didnt give chances to youth players. its not like we had the europa league to just blood youngsters because we were more competitive than that (ie in the chapions league) most of the time as well.

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  43. of course i forgot lucas who was still young when he came, and leto was given a couple of chances until it was found out he didnt actually have italian citizenship as first thought.

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  44. ...please to meet you...

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  45. Athletico Madrid could arguably be the 3rd biggest/best club in Spain right now. Recently they have won 2 Europa League Cups and the Super Cup. 

    Signing for them would IMO be the equivalent of signing for Liverpool (in todays world, maybe it's an even bigger achievement). So I'm not taking anything away from this guy at all. He also cost 10m. 

    If not for a bit of ignorance he would still be a LFC player. 

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  46. Not sure if there was any need for you to say that stuff about Atleti, as I haven't said anything to the contrary about Atleti but never mind.

    I was mostly referring to your comment of 'look at him now' and the implied linking of his name as some sort of shining example of 'proves most players will come good' philosophy. Lets see how he does for them, before we all get tearful and regretful about how we should never have let him go, as he hasn't proven himself yet at a big club. Nice, he signed for a big club (I haven't said anywhere that Atleti aren't a big club) but that doesn't prove anything yet, got to show it with performances now. That is how you prove it. Until then, he doesn't belong as an example of 'proves most players will come good'. Many a player have signed for a big club and still turn out to be mediocre, even when given loads of time to try and 'come good'. So the mere act of signing for a big club alone isn't enough. Certainly hasn't 'come good' yet, well at least in terms of being one of the better left backs around. So I'm not losing any sleep over him yet.

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  47. I know, nothing negative/personal/attacking, I'm just highlighting that signing for a big club is an achievement in itself. And I'm also referring to the ignorance of the manager/club at the time because Insua was our only fit left back and Agger was/is injury prone and sometimes played at left back. He was shipped out because he was thrown right in the deep end and people saw his weaknesses rather than strengths. 

    He isn't the best left back in the world, probably just above average but when it comes to proving yourself at LFC people are too ignorant. I defended Henderson since day 1 and now he is proving his worth to the team. You can't make such drastic judgments on a players ability in a relatively short time frame. 

    "Look at him now", he is a 10m rated left back. That's pretty good. 

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  48. I'm pretty sure Gerrard came through as a right back and defensive midfielder, rather than being handed such attacking freedom early on.

    I do agree that his Shelvey's style of play is much more similar to that of Gerrard, than anybody else though. The guy has 100% confident of his ability and is always aggressively looking to make something happen himself, whether he's been having a bad game or not.

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  49. @s.r.k.d24 - playing big money signings doesn't count as bringing somebody through the academy. Of those you've listed, only N'gog, Insua & Kelly were given real chances to be first team players. And Benitez was in charge for 6(?) years...

    I totally agree with JamesWoodJnr. Just because Benitez brought in a lot of kids, that doesn't mean that he would've brought them through into the first team as Rodgers has. We had plenty of talent that fell by the waysides in our reserves under Benitez, and there's no reason to believe that anything different would've happened with the current lot.

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  50. I do look at the way Shelvey plays and to even suggest they are similar is an insult to Gerrard, Shelvey has all the talent and potential to be as good as maybe Biscan but to be anywhere near Gerrards ability at any point of his career is impossible as he far inferior to Gerrard

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  51. I agree he was thrown in too quick, too deep. Maybe the situations with Dossena & Aurelio forced the manager's hand at times. Wasn't ready to play so much in his last season, even though he wasn't that bad at all. I see the same thing with Suso earlier this season, although with the new signings in, the pressure is off him now. Bit of a gap now between the experience of Enrique and our next natural left back, Robinson. So will be a bumpy ride for Robinson too for the short term. Agree with the implied notion that patience is needed, although don't agree that most players will come good given time.

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  52. "rafas the special one"  true gent and legend, wasted at a plastic london club

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