Benitez to meet agent as Liverpool exit nears

Rafael Benitez is set to hold talks with his agent on Thursday as the Liverpool manager edges closer to leaving Anfield.

Reports in England claim Benitez is on the way out of the Premier League club after the breakdown of talks over his future with chairman Martin Broughton and managing director Christian Purslow.

The Spaniard is said to have been offered a three million pounds (4.4 million dollars) pay-off but still has four years to run on a contract which guarantees him a 16 million pounds (23.5 million dollars) severance deal.

He will meet agent Manuel Garcia Quilon to discuss his next step in the negotiations which look certain to end with his departure.

Benitez has fallen out with the Anfield heirarchy over the lack of funds available to him to rebuild a squad which finished seventh in the Premier League last season and failed to get past the group stage of the Champions League.

The 50-year-old had suggested he would require in excess of 50 million pounds (73.4 million dollars) to put the club back in contention for the Champions League places and even more to contend for the Premier League title.

Co-owner Tom Hicks had said Benitez would have a “substantial” transfer budget despite he and George Gillett trying to sell the club.

But Benitez was reportedly told that only 15 million pounds would be available for signings because Liverpool had failed to qualify for the lucrative Champions League.

It has also been suggested that Benitez had lost the support of key players after Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano were all strongly linked with moves away from Merseyside.

With Inter Milan keen on luring Benitez to the San Siro to take over after Jose Mourinho’s switch to Real Madrid, the Liverpool boss has no reason to stay where he is not wanted.

However, official confirmation of his departure may not come quite yet and Garcia Quilon said: “We don’t know anything more than what’s being said. We’re not saying anything.”

Benitez joined Liverpool in 2004 after a successful spell with Valencia and led the club to a famous Champions League final victory over AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005.

But although he won the FA Cup a year later and returned to the Champions League final in 2007, where the Reds were beaten by Milan, it is Benitez’s failure to end Liverpool’s 20-year wait for the league title that started to rankle with fans who had previously been steadfast in their support for him.

He was unable to build on a second-placed finish in 2008-09 and Liverpool ended last season 23 points behind champions Chelsea.