[quote author=peterhague link=topic=47171.msg1413135#msg1413135 date=1318849212]
still, it was a really, really bad signing in the first place, as you say. it was the only time i ever felt really close to losing faith in Benitez; i just couldn't understand what we were playing at breaking up one of the best partnerships in europe in gerrard and Torres with an ageing and never-that-great striker like Keane. i still can't fathom it now.
although, i did always get the feeling that rafa would just rather have sold gerrard, the amount of times he moved him around the team. i don't think he liked having a player in the squad who had so much influence with the supporters. i think it irritated him.
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I wasn't opposed to the Keane deal at the time, and I'm sure plenty of others saw it as a potentially good signing. For whatever reason it wasn't. Still not totally sure what went on there either.
The problem was that he moved him on very very quickly and then didn't replace him. It was a bit like Houllier did with Diouf - although he didn't move him on he moved him to the right wing instead. It was as if the need for a striker no longer existed.
Now it could well have been that Benitez was not allowed that cash to spend on a replacement, whereas in others years he could (and frequently did) buy a player, decide after a year that he was not good enough, sell him on and try again.
Now maybe he was not told that this money would not be available like it usually was but it doesn't seem like he helped himself. Years of buying players one year and moving them on the next must surely have had an affect on the finances?
I have always thought the same about Gerrard. Houllier was the same with Fowler I think. He was helped by the fact that Fowler declined so he was able to get rid of him, whereas Gerrard never did.