New Liverpool owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have promised Rafa Benitez a £40 million war chest to overhaul Manchester United and Chelsea next season. Who should he buy?
We need a centre-back to mould, as Hyppia only has two good seasons left him and a centre-midfielder to be as cover.
Our problem is up front, Crouch may head to Newcastle as originally planned with Villa deal, but with more finance available that may not happen. This could leave Liverpool with Bellamy, Kuyt and Vorinin; although the former has been linked with a move away. This leaves two positions available and one can only suspect a La Liga raid.
Knowing Bentitez, he may bring in some young players from La Liga too.
I think Benitez knows we have the nucleus of a great team so he's not going to completely overhaul the club. We have the advantage over Chelsea in the long run as we're a bigger club so can sustain a high budget for players.
We do need a bit more fire power up front and some cover in defence but our midfield's spot on, especially now with Mascherano.
I think that'd probably benefit the national team in the long term as it'd force clubs to invest more into youth development. I can't see it ever happening though. It'd cripple the big clubs in the face of European competition who could field whoever they wanted. That, in turn, would affect the smaller clubs.
It couldn't happen on a European wide scale either, the big clubs would resist it and, if they united, they'd be able to take on both FIFA and UEFA to form a break away league.
