Benitez thinking long term

Last updated : 11 March 2006 By Al Campbell
Rafa Benitez was bitterly disappointed to be knocked out of the European Cup on Wednesday but already his thoughts have turned to the future and the new team he is going to build at Liverpool.

"Rick Parry and the board are working on solutions for the future, and I have confidence in them," said the Liverpool manager.
 
"I do not know if we have more or less money - but we are working on new ideas, working with the players we have and thinking about who we have out on loan.
 
"Then we will consider the transfer market and making use of what we already have here.
 
"This does not affect my own plans. We have signed Antonio Barragan, Gabriel Paletta and Daniel Agger, while Mark Gonzalez will be here in the summer - all very young play-ers for the future.
 
"If as a manager you are thinking about your future then you cannot sign players who are 20 and 21-years-old. It would be better for me to sign players who are 28 with experience.
 
"Then you can work with them for one year, two years and then finish. We are thinking about young players for the future, not for just one season.

"The club are working to improve, they have been working for a couple of years trying to find some more money, I know they are looking and trying to find solutions.
 
"If they cannot I will try to do my best, for sure. It is difficult to say if you lose the Champions League whether things will be more difficult.
 
"As a manager you must work with the players that you have. We will try to improve the squad and the players with the money we have at this moment. If we had more money, yes it would be better.

"I am only concerned with winning the next game and working as hard as possible for my club.
 
"I do not have a problem now, I want to improve my team this season and in the future.
 
"If you continue winning in the Champions League you will earn more money. We do not have that any more so we need to work with the players here and try to find the best solution in terms of money.
 
"Sometimes it is not just receiving a big amount of money that solves things, it is how you use your imagination with how you spend what you have. In football everything can change after one game. Now we need to think about the future but you cannot say we are worse than one day before playing Benfica.
 
"We are the same team and we need to think about the Premier League and FA Cup now.
 
"If you want to improve you can do it by working harder or by signing new players. We are working on buying good players for us, every big club is doing that, everyone needs to improve and change things if needed.
 
"But this is normal, it is nothing new, just the same for every club when you finish a season. It is the same every year.
 
"The players are not thinking about what happens in the future, they are only thinking about winning, we are professionals."