It centres on the summer's most tedious transfer saga (at least the Ronaldo one is now over) as Benitez looks to secure his number one target Gareth Barry. The owners are apparently reluctant to part with the £18m that they have secured in a loan that would seal Barry's transfer from Aston Villa.
They question the wisdom of signing a player whose sell on value will be significantly less bearing in mind he will be 31 at the end of a proposed four year contract. Now what's strange is that the Yanks may have the fans in some ways agreeing with them on this one.
Now that's hard for anyone to admit bearing in mind the shit they've pulled with our football club. But I personally have been very skeptical about the whole Barry affair all summer and there was plenty of audible support for Xabi Alonso, who at one stage was set to make way for the Villa captain, in last night's friendly win over Lazio at Anfield.
However, the chants of "You can stick your Gareth Barry up your arse" by some sections of the support were less appreciated. Whatever about showing support for one player it's not the Liverpool way to be so disparaging and abusive towards another potential new signing.
Similarly the booing of Andriy Voronin upon his entrace last night wasn't on and fair play to him for shushing those supporters with a smashing late winner.
But back to the Barry saga and I find it strange that from our opening offer of £10m back in May we are now suddenly prepared to pay nearly double that for the England international or at least Benitez is.
This certainly hasn't been the way Benitez has behaved in previous pursuits of the likes of Daniel Alves or Simao, calling those pursuits off when the clubs quote ridiculous prices. I certainy think £18m is a ridiculous price for Barry but the boss is clearly very keen on the player and perhaps we should trust his judgement on this given his track record with big money signings (Mascherano and Torres for example)
But I guess it's just that nagging feeling that having seen Barry week in week out in the Premier League it's hard to say he's worth that much and it's that loyalty to Alonso, a fans favourite whose obviously very keen to be staying at the club and has been terrific in pre season, that gives us cause to doubt the boss.
Ultimately it would be ideal if Barry arrives and Alonso stays and Rafa finds a way to accomodate both in already crowded looking midfield.
But to achieve that it appears he may now have to overcome another sticking point with the owners. At least on that front Rafa has our support and that may be vital in attempting to wrangle the money out of their hands and ending this tiresome affair.
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