RAFAEL BENITEZ is expected to take charge of Liverpool’s final game of the season, at Hull City on Sunday, having discussed his future with the club’s chairman, Martin Broughton, and chief executive, Christian Purslow, yesterday.
Suggestions that the Liverpool manager had resigned after six years in charge were emphatically denied last night, although uncertainty remains over Benitez’s future following a first meeting with Broughton in which the manager sought assurances over the club’s search for investment and spending power this summer.
Benitez, who is wanted by Juventus, met his lawyers in London and also Purslow and Broughton, the British Airways chairman who was installed at Anfield on April 16th to oversee the sale of the club by co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Broughton is expected to report the details of his meeting with Benitez to fellow board members. Benitez, who is under increasing pressure to give an answer on his future to the new Juventus president, Andrea Agnelli, will consider whether to continue as Liverpool manager. Benitez will not be able to divulge details of the meeting today as his customary Friday press conference has been postponed.
Hicks, meanwhile, is angry at the publication of comments from him which suggested it will take another two years to sell the club.
Reports quoted the Texan as saying he and fellow American George Gillett had been owners for three years but would not be in charge for a total of five. That was interpreted as him claiming it would take two years to sell the club he and Gillett bought back in 2007.
However, Hicks has reacted angrily to the publication of the remarks, which he does not deny making but which were part of an interview with American magazine Sports Business Journal in late March.
The Texan has pointed out the comments were made before he and Gillett officially put the club up for sale last month. He also clarified a quote in which he said he had paid a “terrible price” for ownership of the club – he claims that referred to his American-based sports interests in the form of Texas Rangers baseball team and Dallas Stars ice hockey franchise.
His request for balance and perspective is, however, unlikely to cut much ice with the majority of supporters who are keen to see the Americans’ reign come to a swift end. That still seems some way off with the sale ongoing, with Broughton overseeing the process.
The Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher has said that talks over a contract extension will not take place until he enters the final year of his existing deal. The 32-year-old’s contract expires in 2011. The Liverpool vice-captain said: “I’ve spoken to the manager about it and we both agreed that it would be better if we talked about it at the start of next season.”
