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Posts Tagged ‘yossi-benayoun’

• Anfield club offered £7m plus Yossi Benayoun back
• Chelsea still hope to sign Luka Modric and Alvaro Pereira

Chelsea have had an offer rejected for the Liverpool midfielder Raul Meireles of £7m plus Yossi Benayoun as a makeweight.

The London club will continue to talk to Liverpool in the hope of making progress for Meireles, as they look to close the transfer window with a flourish, but Benayoun is unlikely to be part of any deal – Liverpool sold the midfielder to Chelsea last summer for £5m and they have the first option on him but they do not appear to want him back.

Benayoun sees no future for himself at Stamford Bridge and he wants to leave, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Lille having shown an interest in him. Chelsea remain determined to sign Luka Modric from Tottenham, meaning that Benayoun has found himself advanced in a makeweight in those negotiations.

Chelsea also hope to take the left-sided player Alvaro Pereira from Porto before Wednesday’s deadline. They failed with a bid of €20m (£17.7m) last week, which fell short of the €30m buy-out clause in the Uruguayan’s contract, but they are encouraged by the player’s desire to complete the move.

ChelseaLiverpoolDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk

• ‘There is one reason I left – Rafa Benítez’
• ‘If I played well, I never felt he gave me credit’

Yossi Benayoun has accused Rafa Benítez of trying to break him at Liverpool. The midfielder said the former Liverpool manager was the sole reason for him wanting to leave Anfield.

The Israeli midfielder, who joined Chelsea in a four-year deal this month, said the former manager made his life a misery while he was at the club.

“Everyone asks me why I left Liverpool,” said Benayoun. “There is only one reason – Rafa Benítez.”

The midfielder says the Spaniard, who left Liverpool to manage Internazionale, never treated him with respect he felt he deserved.

“If I played well, I never felt he gave me credit,” he told the News of the World.

“When I scored, I still expected to be out of the team the next game. On two occasions early last season, against Fulham and Lyon, the fans booed when I was subbed. They thought I was playing well but Benítez told me he was surprised the fans booed because I was not good enough.

“He tried to destroy my confidence. You can’t treat a player like this and expect him to be happy.”

Benayoun said he was very unhappy but out of respect for the club he did not speak out. He said the players and people at the club know how he felt.

“I don’t want to speak on behalf of other players at Liverpool, but people know what happened to Albert Riera and Xabi Alonso. It was the same for me. Benítez tried to break me like he broke Riera.”

The 30-year-old said before the final game of the season Benítez pulled him aside in training and said: “You will not be in the squad for this game. Thank you for your three years of service, now you can call your agent to do a deal with another club.”

“That’s when Chelsea made an offer,” said Benayoun, “and the deal was done before Benítez left.”

LiverpoolEverton Gayleguardian.co.uk

• Forward scored Serbia’s winner against Germany
• Move lined up by Rafa Benítez before he left Anfield

The Serbia forward Milan Jovanovic has finally completed his long-awaited move to Liverpool after signing a three-year contract.

The 29-year-old was a free agent after his deal with Belgian club Standard Liège expired at the end of the season. The move was lined by up the former manager Rafael Benítez before his departure at the start of June.

Despite numerous suggestions that Benítez, now manager of Internazionale, might try to hijack the deal, Liverpool and the player were always confident he would move to Merseyside and that has now been confirmed.

Jovanovic, who scored Serbia’s winner in their surprise World Cup victory over Germany, met some of his new team-mates at Melwood today.

Jovanovic can play up front or on the wing. He could provide much-needed support for Fernando Torres or fill a gap left by Yossi Benayoun’s transfer to Chelsea.

“It is an honour for me to sign for one of the biggest clubs in football,” said the 2008 Belgian footballer of the year.

“I cannot wait to start working with the manager and I’m looking forward to joining up with my new team-mates on our Swiss training camp.”

LiverpoolTransfer windowStandard Liegeguardian.co.uk