Cisse stays but there is no move for Owen
Aug 20 2005
By David Prior Daily Post Staff
RAFAEL BENITEZ has moved to rebutture Djibril Cisse over his future at Liverpool - and again claimed he is not interested in bringing Michael Owen back to Anfield.
Speculation that Owen is set to end his one-year buttociation with Real Madrid and return to the Merseysiders, perhaps on an initial loan basis, has heightened in recent days.
It had also been suggested that Cisse, a £14million arrival from Auxerre only last summer, could even be sold to facilitate any Owen deal.
But last night Benitez sought emphatically to deny he had any interest in losing Frenchman Cisse, and said his main targets concerning new arrivals still concerned central defence and the right wing.
He said: "Cisse is happy here. We are not thinking about him not being here.
"We need to use all our players and Cisse is working well and scoring goals. I've told him that we don't have any offers for him, so he must work as normal.
"It's not easy for him or any player to read newspapers and hear stories about new players or players in their positions. I said to him, don't read the newspapers; that will be the best thing for him."
Benitez again insisted that Owen was someway down his shopping list - if the former Anfield favourite was on it at all.
"We have six strikers here now, but even if we have five it will be the same. Sometimes you play with only one striker and you do that and have four more, really you don't need a centre-forward. We need players in other positions," the Spaniard said.
"I am not doing anything about Michael at the moment, I am waiting and talking to my scouts about centre-backs, but I am not talking about Michael or centre-forwards. We need a right-winger and a centre-back.
"I need to improve the strikers I have at the club at the moment, I cannot control the positions of players not at the club. If you're always thinking about players at other clubs, you wouldn't be able to sleep. I must be focused on my team, working with my players.
"If we can sign players good enough for us, okay we will try, but at the moment it is the same answer: we have six strikers."
Whether Milan Baros's departure-will soon make that number five was no clearer last night, with Liverpool and the player weighing up the two offers so far tabled by Lyon and Aston Villa.
Lyon's £8.5m offer is some £2m over what Villa have so far bid, but there had been claims Villa were prepared to offer midfielder Nolberto Solano as a makeweight.
But Benitez added: "Lyon have made a good bid, Aston Villa another bid. We will analyse those bids and while we are doing that, Milan is our player and will play for us.
"As far as I am concerned we have made no bid for (Nolberto) Solano and there are certainly no bids for Cisse, he is our player and, no, I do not expect us to have sold two strikers before the transfer deadline.
"We will be in contention for six trophies, so we need a lot of strikers and a lot of players in all the positions.
"But we have Mellor, Sinama, Crouch, Morientes, Cisse, Baros, as well as Luis Garcia and Kewell, who are two options as second strikers.
"At centre-back, we have Hyypia, Carra and Zak (Whitbread) at this moment.
"Maybe (Djimi) Traore and Josemi can play there too, but we are trying to find the right centre-back. We have some names, and with a little bit of luck we can sign one of them."
The speculation has overshadowed today's visit of Sunderland, which for Liverpool is a chance to get their home form off on the right track and to build on last weekend's encouraging draw at Middlesbrough.
Benitez said: "I was delighted with our performance at Middlesbrough and I am expecting our next game to be exciting for our supporters for our first home league game of the season.
"Our fans will now see better players, more confidence and a better team from last season.
"I have seen a couple of Sunderland games from last season, they are good on the counter-attack and are compact in defence.
"But we must control the ball and the match."
The Spaniard's press conference was spiced with jovial digressions about over what he clearly finds a total mystery - England's newfound love affair with cricket.
He said: "How can you tell your wife you are just popping out to play a match and then not come back for five days?
"No, I do not understand, and I can't find anyone to explain the rules, but it does seem a long time to be away from your wife without a good reason!"
Benitez has confirmed Peter Crouch could be back in 12 days while Harry Kewell is back running and Spanish defender Josemi has returned to the squad after an ankle injury.
