Rafa dismisses Gibson whinge

Last updated : 10 February 2007 By Al Campbell
Following England's dismal performance against Spain in midweek Middlesbrough's rent-a-quote chairman tried to pin the blame on big clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal. Rafa Benitez was quick to dismiss the claim as nonsense.

"For me it's easy to come back on these comments: Carson, Pennant, Crouch, Carra and Gerrard," said the Reds' boss.

"We have four or five players in the national team, so there is no problem on our side. We use English players and foreign players.

"It's easy to talk about these things. Maybe we will be talking for years about the English market and players available for the national team, but the problem is with the market.

"It's not cheap to buy English players, you can maybe find players with more quality for cheaper if you look abroad.

"When you talk to clubs and they say they want £20 million for a player, this is a big problem."