Liverpool manager wants shot of Alonso – no great surprise anymore

Posted by

Despite Rafael Benitez making the right noises about wanting to keep his compatriot on the books at Anfield, it’s clear that Juventus can pretty much have Xabi Alonso if they bump up their bid for the midfielder.

Indeed, while Liverpool’s manager plays down the transfer talk surrounding the midfielder, secretly he’ll be hoping the Old Lady of Turin stump up some cash pretty quickly so he can set about snaring Robbie Keane from Tottenham and offer Martin O’Neill an extra £1.67 for Gareth Barry, something the Irishman might find hard to refuse.

Setanta report on Benitez trying to play it cool on the Alonso front:

“The situation with Alonso has not changed. Juventus made an offer that was not good enough and now we are just waiting,” he explained.

“I do not know, really, whether that will go through.

“Xabi wants to stay because he is happy here but he also knows that Juventus is a top side.

“I have talked to him, he knows my ideas and he knows why. So we will try to find a solution for him, for us, and the best for the club.”

And what Rafa really means is “we want to sell Xabi to Juventus, we wish that they would hurry up and stop playing silly beggars, don’t they want a player who can score the odd goal from his own half and warm the bench very nicely for them?”.

More Stories Gareth Barry Juventus FC Liverpool FC Xabi Alonso