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Rafa to call in overseas reserves
May 17 2005
Rafa Benitez will address the problems at reserve team level by bolstering the ranks with youngsters from all over the globe.
Liverpool's reserve side endured a torrid season, finishing second from bottom in the FA Premier Reserve League North, and Benitez is determined to ensure that doesn't happen again.
He's also unhappy with the u18 side finishing bottom of their league, but cannot do too much about that as Steve Heighway has complete control over what happens at the Academy.
The reserve side is a different matter however, and Benitez is already looking at young players with a view to next season
Last week the reserves played two friendly games at the Academy - against Tranmere and Crewe - where they fielded four trialists including two Argentinian youngsters.
There was also a Spaniard and a Ghanaian, and more triallists are expected ahead of next season.
The reserves were short of numbers and quality this season, and Hughie McAuley's thin squad will be weakened further by the departures of Partridge, Otsemobor, Smyth and Harrison, all of whom are out of contract this summer.
There's also reports that Patrice Luzi will also be leaving the club, whilst Anthony Le Tallec's future is far from certain. With very few players progressing through the u18 side into the second string, Rafa has been forced to cast his net far and wide as he looks to make up the numbers in the reserve squad.
When he took over last summer, Benitez was keen to give the local youth every chance to come through, and he cleared the way for them by farming out a lot of the foreign squad players signed by Houllier.
Several Academy graduates were given opportunities in the senior side, whilst the reserve side was almost always made up entirely of home grown players. It was an admirable policy from Rafa, but it didn't pay off because there wasn't enough quality coming through.
Some players have shown themselves to be good enough, others have not been able to cut it. The 'older' reserve players, such as Mellor, Potter, Raven, Welsh and Whitbread had productive seasons, but the lack of players coming through from the u18 side meant McAuley's side lacked the quality needed to compete in the reserve league.
Benitez is said to be very unhappy with the standard of player coming through Owens' u18 side, and will now fill the gaps in the reserve squad with foreign youngsters rather than promote players who aren't up to standard.
With the bulk of the transfer kitty needed to strengthen the first team, Benitez can't afford to go out and sign promising English youngsters due to the cost involved, a point he made several weeks ago when he claimed he can sign four Argentinians for the cost of one English youngster.
There'll be a lot of new faces in the first team squad next season, possibly as many as seven or eight, and the reserve side may contain a similar number of new recruits.
It promises to be the biggest turnaround of players in the history of the club.
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