Benitez Trying to Fool Liverpool Fans by Demanding £80m for Rebuilding

A few weeks back, Rafael Benitez had guaranteed a top four finish to the Liverpool fans. Now, after the stalemate against Fulham at Anfield, Liverpool have lost ground to Manchester City, and looks certain to finish outside the top four.

Alright, what about his guarantee then? He has got every foot wrong this season, but isn't willing to accept his mistakes even after enduring such a nightmare season.

Meanwhile, the American duo, Gillett and Hicks—owners of Liverpool—have put the club up for sale, but their asking price is ridiculous. The Yanks bought the club in 2007 for a sum of £219m, and now the asking price has increased almost threefold. What did Liverpool achieve in these three years to demand such a staggering amount? The construction of the new stadium is put on halt and the team is below-par, and urgently needs to revamp their squad to compete for silverware again. So how could anyone justify a £600m asking price?

Also, the owners failed to hammer out new investments in a bid to repay the loan which needs to be slashed in the summer. So now they're forced to sell the club and pay the debt. However, the new owners will have to find cash for new signings as well as for the new stadium, that may again result in debts.

Coming back to the £600m price tag, it's absurd to even dream about such a staggering amount for a drowning club, which doesn't even have a world-class stadium. Anything above £450m would be a miracle, and nothing has changed since 2007 to increase the value threefold.

The situation is made worse by Benitez when he revealed that he needs at least £80m to rebuild the team, sending out clear warning to potential buyers. Like many, he feels that Liverpool need at least four top-class players, and estimated the minimum value of a top-class player to be £20m.

However, Benitez never revealed why he had squandered the chance to buy some top-class players last summer despite having sufficient cash. He roughly had £40m last summer and going by his £20m estimation, he could have signed two top-class players with that cash.

He did purchase two players, but those two deals are not really convincing. He brought in a playmaker, Alberto Aquilani, from Italy, who likes to spend most of the time on treatment table rather than the playing area. Aquilani was a waste of money, and I wonder how someone as experienced as Benitez could even think about buying such a hapless player—physically—when he badly needed to replace Xabi Alonso. The margin for error was minimal, so he shouldn't have taken such a big risk.

The next player he bought in was Glen Johnson, undoubtedly a quality player, but a club like Liverpool paying £18m for a right back is beyond me. Benitez could have signed a top-class striker or midfielder with the same amount and that would've been the right option considering the lack of players up-front for Liverpool.

Moreover, a wing back alone is not going to change the phase of a game much if the midfielders and strikers around him aren't up to the mark, no matter how good the wing back is. So the purchase of Johnson is indefensible.

Benitez badly got both the signings wrong and now he's reeling with his poor squad for an unlikely fourth place. This same dopey manager is now demanding £80m for the rebuilding process but the best option for the potential buyers would be to sack him and pay the compensation which isn't more than £20m and lure someone like Roy Hodgson, who's having a fantastic season at Fulham.

How long can the Anfiled faithful support this abysmal manager?