29 Apr 2009

Just admit it, Rafa - you DO want to sell Xabi Alonso

Rafael Benitez has publicly claimed that he doesn’t want to sell Xabi Alonso this summer, but a closer look at his comments on the issue arguably reveal his true intentions.

Alonso has been linked with Juventus this week and Benitez has been quick to dampen the speculation. Or has he? Consider his comments:
“We don’t want to sell Alonso”.
So far, so good. But wait…
“If Juventus were asking for him at the right price – in football everybody has a price”.
Why is this comment necessary? What possible purpose does it serve? Stating that Alonso is not for sale is all that’s required here, is it not?

For me, it is crystal clear from the preceding comment that Benitez will sell Alonso if he gets an acceptable offer.

Indeed, his comment basically represents a form of subtle, public negotiation with Juventus, along the lines of “Come in with the right offer and he’s yours".

Benitez’s obvious wish to sell Alonso should come as no surprise since he spent most of last summer trying to replace him with Gareth Barry.

It was a ridiculous idea then and it’s a ridiculous idea now.

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9 comments:

  1. why do we say no one man is bigger than the club when it is a player not toeing the line but rafa's behaviour, demands and clueless activity in the transfer market is near unbearable and surely his ego is filling up too much space at liverpool. sell alonso and i start supporting accrington stanley - 30 years down the drain. i like rafa, i wish he'd win something (recent) for all his blah blah blah, i wish he'd sign our better players to longer contracts, i wish he's stop buying squad fodder and invest in speed and creativity, i wish many things for liverpool and have so for near 20 years...
    No prizes for second place and i think we'll be even further away next year. rivals we see we came close this year and invest more money and more wisely than us. We've missed this chance - Accrington for the prem before liverpool win it again.....

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  2. Where exactly did you pull that quote from? Because I remember hearing that in the summer when we wanted to buy Gareth Barry, not in Rafa's latest press conference.

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  3. More negative nonsense. What a pathetic creature you are, Jamie.

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  4. That sounds like last summer wants it's quote back - to be fair Jaimie. Lorik Cana is who the papers are speculating will replace Xabi.

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  5. Juventus' renewed interest in Alonso has been reported all over the place, including in 'The Telegraph'. It's not hard to find the story or the quotes.

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  6. Here is one link to the quotes in the 'Liverpool Daily Post' - clearly not last summer's quotes:

    http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/04/29/juventus-ponder-new-move-for-xabi-alonso-liverpool-fc-latest-92534-23497819/2/

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  7. Well, the real comment was
    "We didn't want to sell him last summer but in football everybody has a price." There's a huge difference between what you put on there, and what I read on the Telegraph. In this one he's saying that yes, he would have let Alonso go for the right price, but he wants to keep him this summer. Anyway, it seems that as usual, you are jumping to conclusions. If you want to take his words out of context and then write a tabloid-like article about him, that's fine by me, its your website after all. One of these days, I'll copy and paste your words, and show you how whatever you've said in the last 2 years can also be twisted to suit my purpose. As far as I'm concerned, actions speak louder than words, and if Rafa does let Alonso go, then I'll criticize him, but I'll wait for it to happen before I pass judgment on him/his move.

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  8. Bikram - read the comment in the article from the 'Liverpool Daily Post' - it matches mine. The LDP is a very reputable source. Stop trying to prove something that just isn't there.

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  9. The Telegraph is equally, if not more, reliable. All I'm saying is that you are jumping to conclusions (negative ones, too, as most of your conclusions about Rafa are) too soon. I will believe this only if and when Rafa actually does try to sell Alonso.

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