Benitez vows to spend wisely in January

"I'm not the kind of manager that says he needs £100m to improve the team, but if you have more money it's easier," he said.

"Look at Chelsea - they paid as much for one player (£21m on Shaun Wright Phillips) as we paid for four in the summer (Crouch, Reina, Zenden and Sissoko).

"Sometimes you don't need a big money player - you need hungry players. I'm optimistic because I think the board have the same ideas as me."