Benitez to make Carlos top target

CHAMPION - Carlos Tevez lifts the Premier League trophy

By CHRIS BASCOMBE, 16/05/2009

LIVERPOOL are confident of gatecrashing Manchester United's title party by snatching Carlos Tevez in a stunning £22million raid.

In what promises to be the biggest transfer coup of the summer, Kop boss Rafa Benitez has decided to make signing the Old Trafford idol his top priority.

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He will make the offer for the Argentine striker after this month's Champions League final.

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Benitez has already earmarked Liverpool's No 10 shirt for the South American and alerted the player's representatives of his determination to make a deal happen.

Now Tevez is willing to snub overtures from across Europe - and a £135,000-a-week offer from Manchester City - to become the first player to make the sensational move direct from Old Trafford to Anfield in 45 years.

Benitez's confidence he will land the striker grew after Tevez's announced his intention to quit United in last week's Sport of the World exclusive.

Liverpool have put a transfer strategy in place which relies on the £18m sale of Xabi Alonso and the release of up to 10 other squad players, raising the necessary funds to pay for 25-year-old Tevez.

Benitez wasn't originally in the market for a striker this summer, but the opportunity to steal Tevez from under the nose of Sir Alex Ferguson has been too much to resist.

Rafa is still smarting from Fergie's refusal to allow Gabriel Heinze a Kop move two years and wants to ram the United boss's claim he'd never let a top player join Liverpool down his neck.

Most importantly, he sees Tevez as a world class addition to his emerging squad, with Gareth Barry also joining from Aston Villa to add a formidable array of talent at Anfield.

Concerns

Although the frontline partnership between Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres has been an electrifying success for the Merseysiders, Rafa doesn't want to pay the price for more injury woes to his hitmen next season.

He believes Torres' hamstring problems cost Liverpool the vital points which would have won the title. And there are concerns about the large amount of football the striker has missed recently.

Benitez is currently headhunting a replacement physio to join his backroom team next season, with particular focus on protecting his Spanish superstar from further muscle problems.

He sees an attacking trio of Tevez and Torres, with the versatile Gerrard rotating between forward and midfield roles, as the winning formula for a renewed title assault.

The capture of Tevez will also reassure Kop fans disturbed by the prospect of losing the popular Alonso.

Alonso has said he'd rather stay on Merseyside, but privately his relationship with manager has been strained since last summer. He's set to snub a mega-offer of his own from Manchester City in order to join Real Madrid.

SHOW OF SUPPORT - Manchester United's Carlos Tevez with manager Sir Alex Ferguson after being substituted against Arsenal

It was thought Alonso was being forced out to make way for Aston Villa's Barry, but it's now clear Benitez wants Tevez and Barry as he reshapes his side.

Liverpool were hopeful of offloading former Real Sociedad star Alonso to Manchester City after learning that Mark Hughes was ready to pay £18m.

But the midfielder, 27, whose wife gave birth to their first son just over a year ago, would need to have been persuaded to make the move and sacrifice Champions League football.

A source close to Alonso said: "If he was given the choice he would join Real Madrid and they are definitely very interested in signing him."

He has three years left on the five-year deal he signed in the summer of 2007 and Real would be willing to pay Liverpool around £15m.

Benitez was willing to listen to offers for the player last summer but his failure to land Barry meant they had to turn down an enquiry from Arsenal. Alonso was also strongly linked with a move to Juventus.

Tevez's desire to move to Liverpool will stun Fergie and the Old Trafford faithful, but the lure of joining his friend Javier Mascherano in a side where he'll be first choice will be hard to resist.

Irony

Liverpool fit the bill for the striker because he won't have to move home and is also assured Champions League football and a title challenge next season.

The irony won't be lost on both United and Liverpool fans that it is Tevez's performances in the last month which have gone a long way to keeping the title at Old Trafford for another year. But that has not put off Benitez, who thinks Tevez has recently proved Fergie has made a mistake not securing the player on a permanent deal.

The north-west rivals have notoriously refused to do business with each other over five decades of power-shifting success.

Paul Ince played for both club's in the 1990s, but joined Liverpool after a stint at Inter Milan. The last player to move directly from United to Liverpool was Phil Chisnall, signed by Bill Shankly in 1964.

Liverpool's pursuit of Tevez will see the battle lines between Rafa and Fergie drawn earlier than ever over the summer.

On the day United equalled Liverpool's record of 18 titles, Benitez was preparing to fire the first bullets in next season's war of words between the managers.

Tevez exclusively revealed he plans to quit Old Trafford but stay in England in the News of the World last week.

He told us: "It's not true I want to leave England for Spain. My four-year-old daughter Florencia is learning English and my wife is very happy living in England.

"We want to stay. I want to play in England because it is the best league in the world and it suits my style."

Your comments

This article has 45 comments

As a lifelong liverpool fan. I am dissapointed we didnt win the league. Rafa make the right choice Buy tevez, d silva , a lennon and barry dont sell alanso he is vital for the team.
As for man utd fans y da jelousy ha ha

By Top shotta .. Posted May 31 2009 at 10:48 PM.

Can you only write in text speak, half of us do not know what you are saying.
eg. im 4 u ifwe understand.

By Baz.. Posted May 21 2009 at 11:20 PM.

If it is possibe we can win!

By basha.. Posted May 21 2009 at 8:44 AM.

the first thing that liverpool need is backup
i mean 1m on the bench
were rfa went r was he only had 11 players
on the field good for 90min
fergy can put a team of reserves on
the field that can beat any of the premier
teams 35 of them

By john bennett.. Posted May 20 2009 at 11:48 AM.

Please, keep Alonso,and buy Tevez instead of Barry, and you shall be rewarded wiith a premiership title next season.

By ME Annan.. Posted May 20 2009 at 12:51 AM.

Rafa won't have much to play with this summer IF he does manage to get tevez. That will take up his agreed transfer budget with the owners! He'll have to sell alonso as a means to an end to get other players in, along with porb: itandje, voronin, get pennants wages off the bill, riera, babel, lucas etc. He wants Barry. He can play left mid, left back, centre mid. Rafa loves versatility! I think Alonso's composure on the ball and passing qualities are top draw, but they fell out last year and maybe getting tevez will just about please us as a consequence?!

By nkk.. Posted May 18 2009 at 12:42 PM.

U manyoo fans,u took 26yrs to win the league back.
Ferguson take 4yrs to lent it.Rafa is into the 4th season. Next season he'll prove u all fulls wrong.

By kumar.. Posted May 18 2009 at 1:18 PM.

Hey kenny goh,Chelsea came a lot more closer last season........Where r they this season???

By Man U 4 lyf.. Posted May 18 2009 at 5:48 AM.

The most OBVIOUS department which needs strengthening is our full-back slots. All of them are slow which never helps when we need constant overlaps for our wingers to help penetrate the opposition defence. Dossena has to go. Aurelio and Arbeloa are only as good as benchwarmers. Even Carragher seems to play better at full back! If only we could steal Phillip Lahm from Bayern Munich.

With these additions, we'd be a force to reckon with. The Premiership Title will seem more achievable with a better squad.

By Sean Tan.. Posted May 18 2009 at 4:37 AM.

If we had the funds to bring in any desired player, we should have at least TWO star players in every position. And Benitez, if u'r reading this, GET RID of LUCAS. He's slow, weak, not that much of a tackler, passes only to the closest person next to him (more often than not, the ball goes back to the defence when he passes), neither can he shoot or cross. Heading ability? He headed Alonso's head for goodness sakes! Get rid of him! Please keep Alonso. His range of passing is way to good to be letting other teams inherit his precious gift. Get the experienced and hardworking Barry, or the young talented Javi Martinez to replace Lucas.

We need wingers too. Dirk Kuyt doesn't seem too bad on the right lately. It's the left that we need strengthening. David Silva comes to mind, and if we don't have sufficient cash, maybe we can settle for the relegation-bound Downing. Maybe another spare on the right as well. Since we're cash-strapped, I'd recommend David Bentley of Tottenham. He's most likely to leave...which means we can get him on the cheap. Critics would say if he isn't good enough for Spurs, why bring him to Anfield? My argument is that he may rediscover his form from his days at Blackburn which which made him the allegedly-bound successor to David Beckham on the right-side of England's midfield. Besides, my idea is just to get him to play second-fiddle to Kuyt.

By Sean Tan.. Posted May 18 2009 at 4:36 AM.

Yes. Prize Tevez from under the noses of Man U, Ferguson and Co. Liverpool does need ANOTHER Striker. Torres can't be fit all the time...and even though the partnership of Torres-Gerrard is amazing, having Tevez play second striker and moving Gerrard into central midfield is just as strong.

We've had too many draws these season that costed us the title. Extra attacking options are what we need. Even if Tevez doesn't play from the start, having a player of his qualities on the bench is a good idea. Reuniting with Mascherano can be a good reason for Tevez to come to Anfield. Liverpool have one of the weakest benches compared to the other big 4. We've got N'gog as our 3rd choice striker and El Zhar as a spare winger. That does not at all seem enticing with regards to our strength in depth.

By Sean Tan.. Posted May 18 2009 at 4:34 AM.

DNT SELL ALONSO BUT GO FOR TEVEZ AND LEAVE OUT BARRY. then uve got mascherano and alonso in the middle with gerrard playin as number 10 behind tevez and ofcourse torres xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

By callum bennett.. Posted May 17 2009 at 9:58 PM.

fergie please dont allow tevez to go!

By lawrence.. Posted May 17 2009 at 6:06 PM.

pls pls pls keep alonso!!! he's a world-class player and he's not that old... americans pls provide more funds...

By Hei.. Posted May 17 2009 at 5:59 PM.

WHY WHY WHY????? why is Rafa so determined to sell Alsonso!???? He is a great player everyone can see it i JUST DONT UNDERSTAND!!!

Please someone...ENLIGHTEN ME!!!

By shane... Posted May 17 2009 at 5:18 PM.

rafa should sell off lucas and retain alonso and give babel another season , i'm sure he will mature enough to take on the premier league teams next season . the (maybe) addition of tevez will give the reds the best chance to finally land the league nest season cause he's already known the in and out of the premier league teams. no barry please he isn't as good as alonso technically as well as skill. if the reds buy barry please get rids of other no alonso.

By kenny goh .. Posted May 17 2009 at 4:46 PM.

I think some United fans are slightly deluded....no surprise..., Carlos Tevez isn't owned by Manchester United he is owned by the company MSI and Kia Joorabchian so United really have no say in Tevez joining Liverpool whatsoever and he will join because Liverpool actually want the player and the player would jump at the chance to join up with Javier Mascherano...the 32m talk is utter nonsense Tevez could join Liverpool for 22m if they can strike a deal.
As for the arrogance of some so called United fans on here Liverpool went close this season and next season they will be even stronger and alot better so I'd enjoy your success while it lasts.

By Dan.. Posted May 17 2009 at 4:11 PM.

TEVES WILL LEAVE MAN UTD BECAUSE LONG TERM HE WANTS FIRST TEAM FOOTBALL IF HE PLAYS WELL ENOUGH................THE MIGHTY REDS ARE BACK.

By fabian williams.. Posted May 17 2009 at 12:26 PM.

Can any of the utd "fans" who have posted so far, actually speak proper english?

By Ynwa.. Posted May 17 2009 at 12:57 PM.

hey Rafa! think twice before selling alonso because UTD will not easily let tevez to anfield.On the other hand bringing tevez will be among your few good singings.

By ramjaun.. Posted May 17 2009 at 11:37 AM.

YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE...YES WE WILL ALWAYS BE IN FRONT AND MUCH BETTER THAN YOU BUNCH OF LOSERS

By RED DEVIL.. Posted May 17 2009 at 11:48 AM.

I KNEW BENITEZ WAS DUMB BUT NOT MOST OF THE FANS AS WELL... THE TAG ON TEVEZ IS 32MILL QUIDS NOT 22! IF THAT WAS THE CASE HE WOULD HAVE SIGN A LONG TIME AGO.
SO UNLESS YOU PAY 32 CARLITO WONT BE JOINING YOU. AND YOUR SPANISH WAITER IS AS USUAL TALKING CRAP-FACT

By red devil.. Posted May 17 2009 at 11:31 AM.

we won the titles back then when football was football not diving all over the place like ronaldo spitting dummy out all the time

By wick.. Posted May 17 2009 at 10:38 AM.

WELCOME TO ANFIELD!!!!!!!!U WILL BE WELCOME!!!

By elnino.. Posted May 17 2009 at 10:21 AM.

hey you guys rafa wont be reading these comments so why you addressing your plea's ??

By JASE.. Posted May 17 2009 at 10:32 AM.

Prescot Pete, we only want Tevez. You can keep that other rubbish you mentioned for they are not fit to wear a Liverpool FC shirt. Liverpool unlike United have never been obsessed with United´s success, because it has always been United who had to do the catching up. Now that they equalled our long standing record of 18 League titles we can start winning it again and believe me we will. We should have done this year even a month ago really if we did not lose so many points with silly draws, but enough is enough....the glory days are on the horizon, it´s no longer a dream, it´s an unavoidable fact

By Edward.. Posted May 17 2009 at 10:32 AM.

What a laff. Only way they will win is to also sign Ronaldo, Rooney, Carrick, Van Dar Saar, Evra, Vidic, Rio, O'Shea, Anderson, Park, Evans and then have Giggs and Scholes as player coaches. If that doesent work for them sack the penguin and get SAF as manager.

Prescot Pete

By Prescot Pete.. Posted May 17 2009 at 8:48 AM.

PLS,PLS,PLS Rafa don't sell ALONSO,He's one of the best in ur squad.We know u never listen but as a liverpool fan pls leave Alonso!!!!Alonso is the best so is Babel.You need both of them if u wanna bring the tittle next season,pls Boss Benitez

By Fred.. Posted May 17 2009 at 9:27 AM.

By Fr.. Posted May 17 2009 at 9:24 AM.

Liverpool getting tevez is great thing, man u are a bit obsessed with liverpool they always have been and wouldn't buy or sell to liverpool. Liverpool are a bit more realistic about things where they realize players careers are more important than a rivalry with another club and don't see what wrong with going for their players. This will come back to haunt united because i see liverpool a challenge to united more than chelsea or arsenal, tevez has his friend there and he'll be able to speak his own lanuage there and surround himself with nicer people.

He'll be happier at liverpool and i hope liverpool get him, this rivalry with united is doomed because ferguson is very old and even if he manages to pass liverpools record it won't be for long because he'll retire and benitez will carry on building liverpool into the dynasty they were. He's going about it the right way and fergies obsession will be over very soon because liverpool have a younger manager who will not leave until his dream is realized, and that's claiming back what belongs to liverpool fc being the most succesful club in britain. United still have to pass liverpool in europe so they'll never knock us off our pertch, i think they forgot that bit!!

WE WECOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS TEVEZ!!

By Karen.. Posted May 17 2009 at 8:28 AM.

Benitez,,,dont sell Alonso....Pls...
He could be a great help when Steve G on injury list,,Fr.Liverpool great Fan

By sham..... Posted May 17 2009 at 7:15 AM.

LIVERPOL CANNOT BE VMGG
JG

By BEN.. Posted May 17 2009 at 6:17 AM.

"Benitez wasn't originally in the market for a striker this summer". Thats unbelievable - if he had not sold keane, or replaced him in january, we would have had a chance at the title. A striker IS the top prioity. But not at the expense of Alonso - one of this seasons outstanding players.

By damo.. Posted May 17 2009 at 4:15 AM.

I dont see Alonso going anywhere he is one the most valuable plaers we have..Gareth Barry is not LFC material..i agree that GB and Stevie G play well together in England setup but Liverpool need a speed merchants on the wings..with Champions League experience,Silva and Kieran Richardson young blood..look at Bojan, David Villa,Eto up front..be assertive,its tough with ''credit crunch''..one must invest to prosper..Rafa got caught up in the Alex F Girly politics..and as much as i love Stevie G we need to get rid of that mindset that ''we wont win without Gerrard ''the Team has played the best football to date this season and i am proud to be associated wit the best team in the world..Tevez at 23Mill GB is not worth it..no use typing my fingertips off,Rafa buys the players thats a clause in the new contract.We could have won the league if we understood that we needed to player harder against the lower ranked teams..to many draws lost us the league..we are done yet because we must win Chelsea is thre points behind and i will be upset if we end 3rd.
Finally,Tevez is comfortable at Manure and might not want to be at there biggest rivals..i am happy that Manure caght up in the League titles because now we can wake up and start playing football and stop thinking that they will catch up,they did it get over it..Rafa all i ask is that you buy players that can adapt quickly,players that dont get homesick the day after they sign the contract..RAFA THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT SEASON,STEVIE G-PLAYER OF THE YEAR..I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NO ONE THAT HAS YOUR SKILLS SET OR TENACITY..KEEP IT UP YOU ARE A FINE EXAMPLE TO ALL..

By Carlo Naidoo Florida South Africa.. Posted May 17 2009 at 3:38 AM.

Man utd fans always think their one better, one bit smarter ... and soon it'll hit them in the face there all as thick as the other, 75% of them only support the team because there all glory supporters, they have no sence of footballing honour or history, whoevers winning they'll support. half of them dont even know where old trafford even is!!

but anyway, ... alonso is NOT being sold so i dont understand why the papers keep banging on about him leaving, ( guess they need to put the best players in the gossip to sell papers ) ... as for the "10" other players going, i again dont think so, why would we sell players that have done so well this season ... we need to add more talent not get rid of the best players,

and as for tevez ... i guess he dreamt up another stupid idea on how to get one over SAF ... NOT going to happen and if it did and he was given the number 10 shirt i'd shoot myself attached to my toillet into space!!!!!!!!!

By Luke B.. Posted May 17 2009 at 2:52 AM.

If that fat spanish waiter wants something from ManU sell them a virus Sir Alex... Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

By MHisham.. Posted May 17 2009 at 2:51 AM.

Silly liverpool fan "we got 15m from the keane transfer" didn't you still owe spurs 11m when you sold him back??????? If you had 15m why sell alonso???

More wishfull thinking from mersyside, tevez will end up playing with Barcalona next season or inter milian.

18 titles and thats a fact........ LOSERS

By matt s.. Posted May 17 2009 at 2:03 AM.

Crusically, there is no sign of Benitez wanting to make Tevez a deal for many football reasons. He will get less games at Anfield, be villified by The Kop, tained for the rest of his life, and he will still be a bench starter for the a premiership club.

liverool have got Kyut anyway, he's like Tevez - a hardworking talented goal scorer.. Only our Argy bargy is more attractive.

I rekon we'll get the price down to the last few days of the season, then stick in a 10m bid for his services this season + 5m salary, same again next year and the year after we'll give 'em 5million.

Sounds like a good deal to me.. Had the Premier League not made it illegal for football clubs to do football business with private companies other than football clubs for the business of player transfers.

By Usman.. Posted May 17 2009 at 1:41 AM.

why is every one saying alonso going ?????
we our adding to the squad not selling, if we are going to win the title next year we need to add to cm not replace players

By paul.. Posted May 17 2009 at 1:27 AM.

liverpool next yearr .. silva, gerrard, torres, tevez .. nw thts a fab four!

By deanoooo.. Posted May 17 2009 at 1:36 AM.

mHisham..Utd will be the biggest fool letting go a guy who has help united not fall apart towards the end of the season. Cant see Alonso go hes a KEY PLAYER Just read the local Liverpool echo interview with Rafa.
We first need to get rid of our on loan players + loan out lucas. We do have 15m from keane's departure + 20m handed by the owners (as per the media). So getting tevez on a deal where we pay 22m upfront and the rest over a 4year period the 13m left back + whoever we sell (non key players) we get barry and a good RWB. I honestly can see this happening. After all its not the whole team that needs changing just a few QUALITY additions. Remember we need a bigger squad for over 60games so selling 10players and adding 4 to replace them is not solving the problem.

By sinclair.. Posted May 17 2009 at 1:34 AM.

First of all, Tevez is on loan to United. They do not own him. He belongs to a syndicate. So Ferguson has no say whatsoever on the matter. End of story

By The Red Horseman.. Posted May 17 2009 at 1:21 AM.

U still cant get it dont u Liverfools. In trying to get Tevex u just admit ManU are much much better than u 'cos ManU players are just great!!! Sore loser rafa!!

By MHisham.. Posted May 17 2009 at 1:02 AM.

i like tevez but rafa PLEASE DONT SELL alonso,he has been our best player this season.

By kev millington.. Posted May 17 2009 at 1:01 AM.

like all argies he will force the move the bitter little man, i cant believe the man united fans cant see this

By brian.. Posted May 17 2009 at 12:27 AM.

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