‘I'm not joining Juventus,’ says Rafa Benitez

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has given the club a boost by announcing that he is staying at Anfield and rubbishing reports that he is to move to Juventus in the summer.

Benitez's future looked uncertain after Christmas as the club slid down the Premier League table and crashed out of the FA Cup to Reading. However he has stopped the rot and Liverpool are now unbeaten in six league games and have risen to fifth in the league, although they still face a fight to claim fourth spot and a Champions League place.

Liverpool have financial problems and Benitez was told that he only had a limited budget to bring in players during the transfer window, further adding to the tension at Anfield.

But despite speculation that he was ready to walk out on Liverpool, Benitez has now made it clear he is not leaving, despite media reports in Italy that he had agreed to take over at Juventus.

The Turin club sacked their manager Ciro Ferrara on Friday and appointed Alberto Zaccheroni as caretaker until the end of the season.

Benitez moved to quel the rumours in a statement that said: "Contrary to reports in the Italian media this weekend, I want to make it absolutely clear I have no agreement with Juventus. I have not and will not be meeting Juventus or their representatives or any other club.

"I have a long-term contract with Liverpool and I'll repeat what I said on Friday that I am happy here and my only focus is to do my job as well as I can to get the team back into to the top four, beginning with the derby against Everton." ·