Anfield Red

International breaks can be extremely beneficial when it comes to teams that have massive injury worries. Just ask Liverpool, who currently have their two best players (Gerrard and Torres), plus a host of key first team selections all on the mend. The rest and recuperation is critical — especially when you have quite possibly the most important stretch of the entire season upcoming.

Rafa Benitez knows how important this break is for his club. Currently sitting in seventh in the league and third in Europe, the Spaniard believes his team has the quality to wipe the slate clean and start anew on Saturday against Manchester City. The dearth of quality in the team has forced Rafa’s hand numerous times this year to select a team he, quite honestly, would probably never consider with a normal side. But those are the breaks this year.

If anything, the shameful losses and comical draws have just magnified Liverpool’s lack of depth. Benitez understands the problem better than anyone. But we’re not just talking about any depth here. No, we’re talking about quality depth in the form of players like Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.

Benitez made it clear that while he’s happy with the players he has, he knows the limitations to buying players of their pedigree.

“We can only buy one or two big, £20 million players a year,” Benitez said. “If we want to have money available then we have to sell some players. We have to sell expensive and buy as cheaply as possible.

“Aquilani fit would be £20-30 million. We checked with doctors and they said he would be out one, maybe two months. We have lost some time, but I signed the player for five years, not five weeks.”

If anything, it’s this limitation that’s made it extremely difficult for Rafa to stay in the race each season. Without Torres or Gerrard in the fold on a weekly basis, Liverpool go from being a top three or four quality team to mid-table fodder.

The return of Fernando Torres to the squad after the international break could be the biggest sign of hope for the Merseyside club. With him the club is unstoppable. Whilst rumours have been swirling in recent months regarding his transfer status at the club, Benitez made it clear that should Torres be sold without his permission, the Spaniard would resign.

“I’m confident it will never happen,” he said. “If it did, I’d resign.”

Resign? I think that just goes to show you how close to two are. Regardless, I don’t think the club would even consider selling their most prized asset at this point. There’s still a lot of season left and as we all know, this club can come back from the dead in the blink of an eye.