WHEN Kahka Kaladze helped AC Milan topple Liverpool in last May’s Champions League final, little did he know that six months later he could end up playing an unwitting role in Rafa Benitez’s potential downfall.
The Georgian defender might have frustrated Benitez in Athens but to nothing like the same extent as the failure to sign him has infuriated the Liverpool boss in the last week.
Benitez wanted to snap Kaladze up to provide defensive cover for Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger and Sami Hyypia but when Tom Hicks and George Gillett refused to even discuss potential transfers before December 16, the chance to sign him was lost and the Reds boss reacted angrily.
Having been ordered to concentrate on “coaching and training”, Benitez saw this as evidence that Liverpool’s American owners were not prepared to back him in the transfer market and, brimming with indignation, used a Melwood press conference to let the world know that all was not well at Anfield.
Despite being unceremoniously slapped down and told to “quit talking” by Dallas-based Tom Hicks following his outburst, Benitez refused to give any ground in the aftermath of Saturday’s resounding 3-0 win at Newcastle.
He claimed the Americans had not yet had time to develop an understanding of the intricacies of the transfer window – and that the club needed to conduct business as promptly as possible.
The battle lines had been drawn and there was precious little sign of either side backing down from the fight.
But today, the mood music coming from Benitez’s direction changed.
Gone today is the outspoken criticism of the club hierarchy and the seemingly kamikaze confrontational approach which had the bookmakers frantically cutting their odds on him being the next Premiership manager to be ousted.
Instead, the language has a more conciliatory tone as an olive branch is held out to Hicks and George Gillett and, by way of reciprocation, sources close to the Americans have dismissed talk that they have already decided to sack the manager at such a crucial stage of the season.
Whether this means Benitez will remain in position for too much longer is another matter entirely.
His recent outbursts have upset the Americans greatly and they came at a time when they were privately questioning his ability to lead Liverpool to the title.
Watching from afar, they have been disappointed by the way their most recent sporting acquisition has struggled in this season’s Champions League and the lead Arsenal have built up over them in the Premiership.
Even an unbeaten run in the league has failed to overly impress them, so Benitez was on the thinnest of ice when he decided to take them on over transfer strategy.
Today, that ice remains just as thin but at least Benitez has given himself a chance of not falling through it by making a tactical withdrawal from battle and intimating that he is now prepared to put his misgivings over the club’s transfer strategy to one side until that all-important meeting on December 16.
Although his future remains open to question, what seems apparent is Benitez’s commitment to the club and his desire for it to be successful.
As those closest to the manager have intimated, it is this hunger and desire to be the best that makes the Spaniard so frustrated when things do not go as he would expect them to.
With Daniel Agger currently injured and Sami Hyypia entering the twilight of his career, the proposed acquisition of 29-year-old Kaladze for a fee of around £4m was seen as crucial to his ongoing squad building.
But with transfer talk banned at Anfield until mid-December that deal died a lingering death last week and Benitez was left with nothing to console him but a swift return to the drawing board.
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