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Former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez believes three signings he made during his time at Anfield are the best moves he made during his time in England.
What did he say?
Benitez enjoyed success at all three of his English clubs, winning trophies with Liverpool, Newcastle and even Chelsea, despite coming under heavy criticism from the Blues faithful for the majority of his spell in London.
In that time he has worked with some brilliant players but some signings didn’t work out so well, particularly at Liverpool – Antonio Nunez and Josemi spring to mind.
In a Q&A with The Athletic Benitez was asked to name the best signings he made whilst in England, and this was his response:
“It’s so difficult. If I’m talking about my players from my time in England, it has to be Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. If you talk about success and performances at the top level, those players stand out.”
It is an interesting choice from the Spaniard, as only one of those players – Alonso – featured in his Liverpool side which won the Champions League in 2005, whilst Torres also missed out on the Champions League final in 2007, too.
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A change in culture
Benitez helped to transform the mentality of the club from a team looking to qualify for Europe to a side capable of winning the Champions League.
He astonishingly managed to accomplish that in his first season, but his continued success at Anfield was due to much more than that.
Having players like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher helped massively but Alonso, Mascherano and Torres all made huge impacts when they joined, and Liverpool improved as a result of each arrival.
Alonso proved himself one of the best passers in the division during his five-year spell at the club, providing countless opportunities for the likes of Gerrard and Torres, and ultimately helping Liverpool to two trophies and their joint-highest placed finish in the Premier League in 2009.
Likewise, Mascherano marshalled the midfield to great effect and when he departed in 2011 his absence was very notable, with signings Christian Poulsen and Raul Meireles failing to adequately replace him.
Torres is remembered as one of Liverpool’s greatest Premier League strikers, and the impact he made was huge – reaching 50 Premier League goals in just 72 games, making him the quickest Liverpool player to do so at the time.
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