Rafa Benitez wants £16m to quit Liverpool

Going, going, almost gone. That’s the situation facing Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez this morning after the news broke last night that the Anfield board had told him to clear his desk. Some reports indicate that the 50-year-old Spaniard, who arrived at the club six years ago and guided the Reds to the Champions League title in 2005, is only too happy to quit but not until he gets the severance deal to which he is entitled.

Apparently the club have offered him £3m to be on his way, but the Sun says Benitez is holding out for the £16m stipulated in his contract, which runs until 2014. The BBC, however, reports that Benitez is on holiday at the moment and will speak to his agent, Manuel Garcia Quilon, later today to discuss the deal. “We don't know anything more than what's being said,” the BBC quotes Quilon. "We're not saying anything."

There was fevered speculation concerning Benitez’s future throughout last season as Liverpool endured a miserable drop in form, culminating in a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League. The financial consequences of failing to qualify for the Champions League was another blow to the Reds, already in a spot of financial strife having posted a loss for last year of £55m, and many had predicted it was a question of 'when' and not 'if' Benitez would be forced out.

Benitez himself did little to quell the rumours that he was headed for the exit, his name being linked with several big name clubs, most notably Juventus. But it appears likely Benitez will be offered the vacant spot at Inter Milan, who have just won the Champions League title but also just lost coach Jose Mourinho to Real Madrid.

But if, as seems inevitable, Benitez does part company with Liverpool, who takes his place remains a moot point. Several names have been mentioned as the Spaniard’s likely successor, with Fulham boss Roy Hodgson, Benfica’s Jorge Jesus and former Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink high on the list. But they would find themselves as constrained as Benitez was by Liverpool’s lack of funds.

The Reds have debts in the region of £350m and while current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett put the club up for sale in April for between £600m - £800m, the only way to make money in the meantime and meet its annual loan repayments of £40m is to sell its prized assets – namely captain Steve Gerrard and star striker Fernando Torres. Both players have been linked to big-money moves overseas, and so the new boss at Liverpool might struggle, in the short-term at least, to raise the club out of the pit of mediocrity into which it’s sunk. ·