BÓNG ĐÁ ANH

RAFA BENITEZ last night vowed not to walk out of Anfield in the wake of Liverpool's cash crisis.

And the Kop boss is ready to trawl Europe's bargain basement now the rug has been pulled on his plans to sign the biggest names in the game.

Benitez had drawn up a hit-list which included the likes of Gareth Barry, David Villa and even Carlos Tevez from champions Manchester United.

But Barry has already gone to Manchester City, while Tevez and Valencia striker Villa are way out of the Reds' price range.

Instead, Benitez finds himself having to shun the designer rails and look in the slight-seconds range for men such as Middlesbrough's Tuncay and Portsmouth defender Sylvain Distin.

But the Spaniard is up for the scrap - despite last week's stunning claim from the club's auditors that the financial plight is so bad there are fears about Liverpool's viability as a going concern.

Benitez broke his silence on the financial mire yesterday and roared: "We knew it could be difficult because there is a crisis all around the world and clearly we don't have too much to spend.

"But I still think we have enough money to add the one or two players that we need.

"This season has been really good and we've competed on all fronts. If we can sign one or two players, then I'm really positive we can improve."

Ironically, Benitez spoke on the day it emerged Liverpool must pay almost £2million to cover travel, legal and personal expenses for owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

That followed the news that Kop Football (Holdings) Ltd - the club's parent company run by the Americans - suffered a loss of £42.6m last year.

Benitez, who penned a five-year deal in March, added: "When I signed the contract I did so because Liverpool FC is more than a club.

"It is the heart of the city, it is our life and for the people here it means so much.

"I thought I had to sign - we have to fight, we have to do it. The people in this city have been fighting all their lives and we want to do the same.

"The situation isn't fantastic but I have a lot of confidence. We want to fight like we did this year." Liverpool fell just four points short of wrecking United's charge to a third straight Premier League title.

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But Benitez believes with a couple of new faces - and Fernando Torres steering clear of injury - it will be a different story next season.

He said: "I'm also positive because we were talking recently about how Fernando and Steven Gerrard didn't play together for a long time.

"Hopefully, they will manage that more next season - and we also have good young players like David Ngog, Nabil El Zhar, Ryan Babel and Emiliano Insua coming through.

"We have a very good squad but we can still improve a little bit. How much - enough to win the title? I'm sure it will be enough to compete.

"We knew the situation in the world would be difficult this summer. Some clubs were asking for our players so the priority was to extend the contracts of our key ones.

"We spent some money to guarantee this and now we just have to improve a little bit, because we are in a very good position."

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