Alves slipped through Benitez´s grasp

Rafael Benitez says Liverpool were unable to back him financially when he tried to sign Dani Alves and Stevan Jovetic for the Anfield club.

Spaniard Benitez, who led Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2005, left Merseyside in 2010 after a disappointing seventh-place finish in the English Premier League.

According to Benitez, financial constraints meant he was unable to lure Alves from Sevilla to England prior to the Brazilian’s departure for Barca in 2008.

“Daniel Alves was our first option on the right side,” Benitez told Sports Illustrated.

“The problem that we had was that I had to decide to bring Alves as a winger when he was an offensive full-back.”

“It was a difficult decision as we had money at the time for only just one striker or a winger-fullback.”

“We signed a striker – the striker was (Dirk) Kuyt, who to be fair has turned out to be a fantastic contributor to the club.”

Benitez also claimed his attempts to prise Montenegro forward Jovetic from Fiorentina fell victim to the same budgetary limitations.

“Jovetic was our target but we didn’t have the money,” he said.

“My idea was to play (Javier) Mascherano, Lucas (Leiva), (Steven) Gerrard, (Alberto) Aquilani – two of these four players in the middle and Jovetic between the lines, but we didn’t have the money.”

Benitez has been without a club since leaving Inter Milan in December 2010.