Barnes has already moved quickly to appoint another former Red, Jason McAteer to his management team, but realises he needs to call on a few favours if the club are to be able to compete in League One with struggling finances.
"We've got two of the biggest clubs in the world on our doorstep in Liverpool and Manchester United," said McAteer. "Not to use them and the help they could give us would be daft.
"We're under no illusions - budgets are tight, there's no money here and we want to bring in some loan players, but we don't just want to bring in any loan player, we want to bring in good quality young loan players who are going to make the team better.
"Rafa Benitez has already said he would love to help us out. My agent has spoken to him at length about things as Liverpool wanted to know what was going on.
"Rafa was really complimentary and when you've got that kind of support you've got a chance."
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