Rafa admits defeat to financial powers

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has spoken out about the club’s inability to compete with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, who hold a financial advantage over the rest of the Premier League.

With wealthy owners and bigger gate receipts, United and Chelsea have the money to spend more in the transfer market, and Benitez says there’s no way the Reds can match it.

He said “Every year United collect £60 million more than us – that means they can buy three £20 million players each season. Chelsea will have spent £500 million over the last five years.

“We’ve made a team that can compete with them but economically we’re inferiors and can’t afford the players they can. I have enough data to bore you with but if you look at United it wasn’t just spending £31m on Dimitar Berbatov – they can spend whatever it takes for what they need every year.

“Last year it was £17m on Owen Hargreaves, £18m on Nani and £20m on Anderson. In my five years I’ve paid less in transfer fees than I’ve received, even though I bought Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane.”

  • The full interview which these quotes are from was first published on This Is Anfield on Monday. The quotes are now being run by the national press, with many of the media taking them out of context. To read the full interview with Spanish newspaper AS – and therefore read the quotes in their correct context – click here.