Alonso: Barry talk forced me out!

[WhiskeyJar]

Xabi Alonso has confirmed that Liverpool's pursuit of Gareth Barry was the catalyst behind him leaving Anfield.

 

Alonso exited Liverpool last summer and joined Real Madrid in a deal worth around £30million.

 

Many Reds fans were unhappy to lose him, but Alonso admits his mind was made up 12 months earlier when Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez tried to sign Aston Villa's Barry.

 

The Barry deal failed to materialise, with the England international later joining Manchester City, but Alonso felt he was not wanted by Benitez from that point.

 

"The pursuit of Gareth Barry took some time for me to accept and, in all honesty, it changed the course of my future," Alonso told The People.

 

"I did get over it but it did take time for me to accept what had happened to me.

 

"Leaving Liverpool was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but after what happened with Barry I knew in my heart I had to tell Rafa that I wanted to go to Madrid when they came knocking at the door.

 

"I was still fairly young when I joined Liverpool and I had not only grown into the player I'd become there, but also the man I'd become."

Reds are fine

 

Liverpool's form has dipped this season and many put this down to Alonso's departure - but he does not think that there is a major problem at Anfield.

 

"People talk about this Liverpool team but it is more or less the same one that was challenging for the title last season," he said.

 

"Liverpool have been very unfortunate with injuries this season, but they have started to put wins together again and I am sure they will secure a top-four place.

 

"When you have bad results it is not always easy to get back to winning ways, but they have managed to do that and now it is time for them to look upwards.

 

"They have a great squad and finishing in the top four is a must for them. I think it is something they will achieve.

 

"I would not offer advice to any of the players because they don't need me to tell them what to do, but I do offer them my friendship."

 

Alonso still has a special bond with Anfield and said: "I still see and speak with all the Spanish boys at Liverpool, but I also speak with others there. I am in regular contact with Stevie Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. I spent a lot of time at Liverpool and in those two I have made friends for life."

 

No bad blood

 

Alonso insists there is no bad blood between him and Benitez.

 

"There is no questioning that he is a good manager who can still bring success for Liverpool," he said.

 

"He doesn't operate the same way to a lot of other managers, but you can't deny that he is successful in what he does. He keeps his distance emotionally - you are the player and he is the manager and that's the way he likes it. You have to accept that.

 

"I will always respect Rafa for what he has done in football but, more importantly, I will always be massively grateful to him for the chance he gave me to join Liverpool.

 

"The club gave me so much and I made some great friends - and the Liverpool fans are beyond excellent.

 

"It was such a hard decision for me but I knew in my heart it was the right time to leave.

 

"It will always be a special place for me, and when I can I will always go back and watch the team and see my old friends."

 

Sky Sports | Football News | Premier League | Liverpool | Alonso - Barry talk forced me out

 

--------------------------------------------

 

Not something we didnt know, but I love the bold bit.

[ZonkoVille77]

Nothing new there really. Just adds to the depression that supporting LFC brings these days.

[Roy Hobbs]

Personally I wish he would either shut up about it or admit he would of gone anyway considering the pay rise and that he was always going to return one day.

 

Greast player and great bloke but he's starting to piss me off.

[vinny77]

I miss him so much:(

[Code]

Personally I wish he would either shut up about it or admit he would of gone anyway considering the pay rise and that he was always going to return one day.

 

Greast player and great bloke but he's starting to piss me off.

 

If someone repeat something often enough, then sadly it has its own way to turn into some kind of "truth" among a lot of people.

[Tom R]

Can I get some apologies now?

 

Cheers.

[OmarVizquel]

Is he sure it wasn't the chance to play in the sunny country of his birth in one of the most beautiful cities in the world for a mega-rich club willing to buy any available players to help the team win its league?

[silverlining]

Can I get some apologies now?

 

Cheers.

 

I think most sane, reasonable, objective people would recognise that Benitez's attempts to sell him and buy Barry were ONE of the factors that led him to move to Madrid.

 

BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE.

[JohnnyH]

Can I get some apologies now?

 

Cheers.

 

For being wrong?

 

Ok then. Sorry you were wrong.

 

You have been at pains to say that Xabi was forced out and never asked for a move last summer. Xabi has now confirmed that he went to Rafa and asked for the move to Real. Xabi has said "but after what happened with Barry I knew in my heart I had to tell Rafa that I wanted to go to Madrid when they came knocking at the door." This completely contradicts what you were saying when you said Xabi would have stayed if Rafa had asked him. It was Xabis choice to leave. Xabi has now confirmed this.

 

The fact it was Rafas chase of Barry that was a reason for Xabi is neither here nor there

 

Everyone knows Xabi got his knickers in a twist because of Rafa trying to sign Barry, that's never been in doubt. As I said in a previous thread, no one wanting to buy Xabi for £13m one summer, and then they were happy to spend £30m the following summer shows. This shows the amazing improvement in Xabi last season, but also shows he was not playing well the seasons before, thus why Rafa was looking for alternatives, as he certainly wasn't going to be replacing Gerrard or Mascherano. Something had to change, so he chose Xabi.

 

Can we get an apology now Tom? Cheers.

[Tom R]

For being wrong?

 

Ok then. Sorry you were wrong.

 

You have been at pains to say that Xabi was forced out and never asked for a move last summer. Xabi has now confirmed that he went to Rafa and asked for the move to Real. Xabi has said "but after what happened with Barry I knew in my heart I had to tell Rafa that I wanted to go to Madrid when they came knocking at the door." This completely contradicts what you were saying when you said Xabi would have stayed if Rafa had asked him. It was Xabis choice to leave. Xabi has now confirmed this.

 

The fact it was Rafas chase of Barry that was a reason for Xabi is neither here nor there

 

Everyone knows Xabi got his knickers in a twist because of Rafa trying to sign Barry, that's never been in doubt. As I said in a previous thread, no one wanting to buy Xabi for £13m one summer, and then they were happy to spend £30m the following summer shows. This shows the amazing improvement in Xabi last season, but also shows he was not playing well the seasons before, thus why Rafa was looking for alternatives, as he certainly wasn't going to be replacing Gerrard or Mascherano. Something had to change, so he chose Xabi.

 

Can we get an apology now Tom? Cheers.

 

Alonso would still be here now if benitez hadn't tried to force him out for an inferior player.

 

End of story.

Whether or not he ended up asking to leave in the end is irellevant.

The catalyst for the whole sorry situation was the Barry debacle and the way rafa treated Alonso in it all. Just as I fucking said it was all along.

 

Apology accepted.

[Tom R]

Also, this bit is all bollocks.

 

"I will always respect Rafa for what he has done in football but, more importantly, I will always be massively grateful to him for the chance he gave me to join Liverpool.

 

 

 

He actually thinks Rafa is a massive knobhead. He's just way too fucking cool to ever say so.

[INTORRESTING]

one factor of many, if we had paid him a bomb and he was good in that season before we put him on the market he may have stayed but then again sun and a super raise and the wife not nagging may have swayed him.

[Tom R]

Alonso is magic.

Benitez is tragic.

[Tom R]

one factor of many, if we had paid him a bomb and he was good in that season before we put him on the market he may have stayed but then again sun and a super raise and the wife not nagging may have swayed him.

 

he'd have stayed on the same money if we'd had a manager who treated him with some repsect.

[rondeco]

How do you know he thinks rafa is a 'big knobhead'?

[INTORRESTING]

he'd have stayed on the same money if we'd had a manager who treated him with some repsect.

 

You could be right.

Sounds a bit precious though, they get paid to do a job.

[Delmar]

Hmm, another article on Alonso, and regardless what is written, everyone's got exactly the same opinion as before.

[Tom R]

How do you know he thinks rafa is a 'big knobhead'?

 

Not a big knobhead, a "massive knobhead".

[Guest Ulysses Everett McGill]

Judas Twat

[Tom R]

VIVA JUDAS!

[Catch22]

This is like a TLW version of the Observer "Said & Done" column where they print the utterly absurd & unbelievable things that footballers (& their PR agents) ludicrously claim

 

Toure: i didn't move for money

 

Cristiano Ronaldo: I did not move to Real Madrid for money | inside World Soccer

Ronaldo: "Of course, I have not gone for the money," Ronaldo told N**s Of The W**ld (Do they have a special template where they print this PR shit at that particualr rag?)

 

Lescott: City move not about money | Latest News | Football News from TEAMtalk

Lescott: I didn't move for the money

 

I posted these yesterday but still worth repeating...

 

BBC Sport | Sport Homepage | Football | Teams | West Ham Utd | West Ham confirm capture of Neill

Lucas Neill reveals he didn't choose West Ham for the money

The Australian said: "It wasn't about cash - that didn't come into it. It was about being wanted"

 

Emmanuel Adebayor Say’s He Didn’t Join Man City for the Money: Everyone Laughs! | CaughtOffside.com

Adebayour

“People who think that I have joined City for the money are wrong,” said the former Monaco man, who is reported to have signed a deal worth £150,000 a week

 

 

& To try & avoid this turning into a pro/anti Rafa thread

Premier League: Liverpool manager Rafael BenÃ*tez rejects new contract over control of transfer policy | Football | guardian.co.uk

Rafa: My new contract is not about money

 

Obviously all of them therefore work for the minimum wage to be at the club they love & other reports of the millions they earn every year are complete fabrication....

 

Any time any side in the debate (on this forum the "anti-Rafa" camp claiming that Xabi didn't join RM because they offered him £50m (which is the total sterling value of the equivalent RM contract he signed) AND the "pro-Rafa" camp claiming that last spring's negotiations were not significantly about him trousering £5m per year on a long term deal (he might have got more in 1 year at RM but not the same length of guaranteed contract) are not only lowering the tone of debate, they are ignoring the inflationary pay pressures crippling both us & the Mancs & even worse, allowing more of these utterly absurd PR interviews in which footballers & their agents treat the public as if they were moronic simpletons.

 

If we heard any other club fan claiming that any of the non-Lfc players mentioned above moved for anything other than cash, we would laugh them out of sight.

Yet both sides (this isn't a pro- or anti-Rafa point) on this forum repeat these utterly ridiculous articles (which any other club would laugh at - every non-Lfc fan knows that Xabi moved for the £50m & Rafa was arguing about his own personal details).

 

A plague on both their houses & all these crappy PR bullshit articles.

 

Nothing wrong with making career decisions on money: we all do it.

Just man the fuck up & admit it.

[goatboy59]

 

Time for bed.

[Tom R]

This is like a TLW version of the Observer "Said & Done" column where they print the utterly absurd & unbelievable things that footballers (& their PR agents) ludicrously claim

 

Toure: i didn't move for money

 

Cristiano Ronaldo: I did not move to Real Madrid for money | inside World Soccer

Ronaldo: "Of course, I have not gone for the money," Ronaldo told N**s Of The W**ld (Do they have a special template where they print this PR shit at that particualr rag?)

 

Lescott: City move not about money | Latest News | Football News from TEAMtalk

Lescott: I didn't move for the money

 

I posted these yesterday but still worth repeating...

 

BBC Sport | Sport Homepage | Football | Teams | West Ham Utd | West Ham confirm capture of Neill

Lucas Neill reveals he didn't choose West Ham for the money

The Australian said: "It wasn't about cash - that didn't come into it. It was about being wanted"

 

Emmanuel Adebayor Say’s He Didn’t Join Man City for the Money: Everyone Laughs! | CaughtOffside.com

Adebayour

“People who think that I have joined City for the money are wrong,” said the former Monaco man, who is reported to have signed a deal worth £150,000 a week

 

 

& To try & avoid this turning into a pro/anti Rafa thread

Premier League: Liverpool manager Rafael BenÃ*tez rejects new contract over control of transfer policy | Football | guardian.co.uk

Rafa: My new contract is not about money

 

Obviously all of them therefore work for the minimum wage to be at the club they love & other reports of the millions they earn every year are complete fabrication....

 

Any time any side in the debate (on this forum the "anti-Rafa" camp claiming that Xabi didn't join RM because they offered him £50m (which is the total sterling value of the equivalent RM contract he signed) AND the "pro-Rafa" camp claiming that last spring's negotiations were not significantly about him trousering £5m per year on a long term deal (he might have got more in 1 year at RM but not the same length of guaranteed contract) are not only lowering the tone of debate, they are ignoring the inflationary pay pressures crippling both us & the Mancs & even worse, allowing more of these utterly absurd PR interviews in which footballers & their agents treat the public as if they were moronic simpletons.

 

If we heard any other club fan claiming that any of the non-Lfc players mentioned above moved for anything other than cash, we would laugh them out of sight.

Yet both sides (this isn't a pro- or anti-Rafa point) on this forum repeat these utterly ridiculous articles (which any other club would laugh at - every non-Lfc fan knows that Xabi moved for the £50m & Rafa was arguing about his own personal details).

 

A plague on both their houses & all these crappy PR bullshit articles.

 

Nothing wrong with making career decisions on money: we all do it.

Just man the fuck up & admit it.

 

Not everybody lives in your bizarre world were money is the only thing that matters in life and in football.

 

Some people are human and personal reasons generally come in to play.

 

I'm sure you could probably find a book about it somewhere.

[Catch22]

Not everybody lives in your bizarre world were money is the only thing that matters in life and in football.

 

Some people are human and personal reasons generally come in to play.

 

I'm sure you could find a book about it somewhere.

 

 

 

So do you believe all the players & manager i listed or just Xabi?

 

If he wanted to leave because of Rafa/Barry he would have done so in the summer '08 where he could have gone anywhere he wanted & picked up a similar wage to what he was on here.

 

He didn't though, did he?

 

He only left when he was offered a contract worth £50m.

 

You do not strike me as naive at all so clearly are not stupid enough to believe any of this crap that Xabi & his agents are spouting.

So why pretend just to have a dig at Rafa (who can still be criticised for trying to sell him in summer '08 which was wrong without some pathetic bullshit that Xabi left because of it)?

[jamespp]

Hes couldnt of gone anywhere he wanted in Summer 08, he had a realtively poor season, I think Juventus & Arsenal wanted him but didnt want to pay 12m (?)