Rafa not prepared to sell Warnock

According to press reports Liverpool were prepared to offer Blackburn cash plus Warnock for Lucas Neill but Rafa Benitez has denied that was the case and said he wanted to keep the left-back at Anfield.

"It was disappointing. We tried but in the end the situation was impossible," said the Liverpool manager.

"Blackburn wanted to sign Warnock, but we made it clear we wanted to keep the player.

"They asked to sign Warnock and receive a fee, so we had to say forget it.

"Warnock is a good 24-year-old player who was in the England squad last year.

"The conversations I had with Blackburn were friendly and they are good people, but in the end we had to say 'okay, we cannot do it'."