LIVERPOOL MANAGER Rafael Benitez would quit the club if he was ever forced to sell Spain striker Fernando Torres, but he remains confident of keeping his prize forward.
The Spaniard, who has come under fire after Liverpool's shaky start to the season, also defended his transfer dealings and said he had put the club back on the world map since taking over five years ago.
"I'm confident it will never happen," Benitez said in a wide-ranging interview, when asked whether he would ever sanction the sale of Torres to pay off some of the club's debts.
"If it did, I'd resign."
With Liverpool having lost five of their opening 12 Premier League matches, in danger of going out of the Champions League and already out of the League Cup, a raft of injuries has exposed a squad that appears to be lacking sufficient quality.
The sales of Xavi Alonso and Robbie Keane in the past year have also been questioned, while major signing Alberto Aquilani, a €19.2 million acquisition from Roma, has hardly featured after the playmaker arrived with an ankle injury.
Highly-rated Dutch winger Ryan Babel, another Benitez signing, has struggled to make an impact as have the likes of David N'gog and Lucas Leiva.
"We can only buy one or two big, £20 million players a year," Benitez said.
"If we want to have money available, then we have to sell some players. We have to sell expensive and buy as cheaply as possible.
"Aquilani fit would be 20-30 million.
"We checked with doctors and they said he would be out one, maybe two months. We have lost some time, but I signed the player for five years, not five weeks. We needed to take the risk.
"Ryan (Babel) was signed for the future and we are waiting for his improvement. He has to be more consistent."
Benitez denied that Alonso was allowed to leave for Real Madrid after the two of them fell out.
"He put in a transfer request," Benitez said. "We had a professional and good relationship.""
"People are worried," he conceded, but the team will improve. When we have key players on the pitch we are as good as anyone. We have proved this in the past."
Benitez will be encouraged by the news that Steven Gerrard is confident of making his first Liverpool start for a month against Manchester City on Saturday after revealing an anti-inflammatory injection has alleviated the need for groin surgery.
The Liverpool captain had the injection almost two weeks ago in an attempt to avoid an operation on the adductor problem he suffered playing for England against Ukraine on October 10th.
The 29-year-old felt no reaction to his comeback against Birmingham City last Monday other than fatigue, having replaced the hamstrung Albert Riera in the 45th minute, and missed England's friendly against Brazil to continue treatment with Liverpool's medical team.
While surgery has not been discounted, the threat has receded thanks to the latest injection and Gerrard expects to test his recovery against Mark Hughes's side at Anfield.
