Liverpool for sale: American owners admit they will cut a deal for
club with £237m debts
American millionaires Tom Hicks and
George Gillett have taken their first step
towards selling Liverpool.
The Premier League club's co-owners have
hired investment bank Barclays Capital to
find potential investors to ease the financial
crisis at Anfield. But, significantly, they
have also indicated for the first time
that they would sell the club for the
right price.
Red raiders: Benitez wants to spend £60million
this summer on new
talent to back up his star players Fernando Torres (left) and Steven
Gerrard
The move will delight under-pressure manager Rafael
Benitez, who knows his spending plans have been badly affected by the
£237million debt built up by the owners, who are unpopular with the
majority of Liverpool fans.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, who,
along with American investment bank Wachovia, lent Hicks and Gillett the
money, have demanded that they reduce that debt by £100m in July.
Benitez yesterday warned that he needs to spend £60m this summer to
compete for major trophies. The manager underlined his concern that
Liverpool's status will be under threat unless they sign three
world-class players in addition to acquiring Serbia midfielder Nikola
Jovanovic on a Bosman free.
Hicks and Gillett were met by hostile
demonstrations when they went to Anfield for Liverpool's Europa League
quarter-final against Benfica on Thursday night and they are set to
appoint British Airways chairman Martin Broughton to take on the same
role at Liverpool because of their own unpopularity.
However, the
Americans are unlikely to be forced into a fire-sale of
the club, having recently rejected a £105m offer for 40 per cent from
New York investment bank The Rhone Group. Five sets of investors have
expressed an interest but Hicks, in particular, was against the offer
from The Rhone Group.
Warning: Benitez says that he needs to spend
£60m this summer to compete
Liverpool take on Fulham today 19 points behind Premier League
leaders Chelsea and four points behind Manchester City in the race for
the final Champions League place.
Benitez, who is being courted
by Juventus, last night put a price on his ambitions at Anfield, saying:
'We need three or four players. The cost of a top-class player is about
£15m or £20m, so you can start counting how much it will cost.
'If we have problems with one of our signings like Alberto Aquilani, we
find it difficult to manage. Other teams have expensive players injured,
or not in the team, and they can manage because of the size of their
squad.'
Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan, who will face
Liverpool in the Europa League, and Spain forward David Silva of
Valencia are among Benitez's targets.
The manager will not want
to stay if players such as Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are sold.
But he is willing to offload the likes of Ryan Babel, Albert Riera and
Aquilani.
The Liverpool manager has spent £220m in six years at
Anfield, with Peter Crouch, Craig Bellamy, Robbie Keane, Andrea Dossena
and Mark Gonzalez, among others, coming and going through the revolving
door. But Benitez insists the high turnover has not been his fault.
He said: 'I was criticised for selling one tall striker [Crouch] but
his wages at Portsmouth were double what they were here. How could I
keep him?'
