David Bentley next as Liverpool close on Gareth Barry

Jun 6 2008 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

WITH Gareth Barry expected at Anfield next week to fulfil his desire for Champions League football, Rafael Benitez is expected to step up his chase for another England international in David Bentley.

Bentley is believed to have been unsettled at Ewood Park for several months after he was left with nearly a full season without European football following Blackburn’s early exit from the UEFA Cup at the hands of Greek minnows Larissa.

With FA Cup winners Portsmouth and Carling Cup winners Tottenham finishing below the Lancastrians in the Premier League table, a seventh-place finish was not good enough to get Rovers back into continental competition again next season – even via the Intertoto Cup.

This week’s departure of manager Mark Hughes to Manchester City – another side who have finished below Blackburn but will be tasting Europe this summer via the Fair Play League – is set to spark an exodus of several major names at Ewood Park and Bentley is set to be leading the queue at the exit door.

Benitez is finally expected to snare Villa skipper Barry, who has served the Midlands club for 11 years, next week with the midfielder now back from international duty in Trinidad where he scored his first goal for his country.

The Anfield manager has already prepared for Barry’s arrival by allowing his compatriot Xabi Alonso to leave the club with the Spanish international having agreed terms over a move to Italians Juventus although the two clubs are yet to formalise a fee which could vary between £14-16million.

With the expected £10m-plus deal for Barry potentially cancelled out by possible moves in the opposite direction for Peter Crouch, Scott Carson or even John Arne Riise, Benitez, who expects to tie up a deal for Andrea Dossena today ahead of the Italian full-back’s wedding this weekend,will be expecting a considerable warchest from the club’s American owners to land a big name like Bentley to attempt to close the gap on Manchester United who can potentially equal Liverpool’s record of 18 League Championships with a title victory next May.

Since arriving from Valencia in 2004, where he won two domestic Spanish titles, Benitez, despite his success in European competition, has struggled to mount a serious charge for the Premier League crown. That fact, combined with the looming threat from FIFA president Sepp Blatter that club sides may soon be forced to field six nationals in their starting line-ups, has prompted the Spaniard to try and attract more high profile English players to Anfield. On average, Liverpool had just two English players – Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard – in their starting line-up last season, a figure which was the second lowest in the Premier League after Arsenal.

Ironically, Bentley, 23, who is now one of the hottest properties in the Premier League and regarded as the long-term successor to David Beckham, left the Gunners after becoming frustrated at a lack of first team opportunities under Arsene Wenger whose multinational squads feature few home-grown stars. Meanwhile, one of Liverpool’s big success stories from overseas, Fernando Torres, who netted 33 goals in his debut season at Anfield, has revealed that a lot of his success is down to an unfamiliar source – Liverpool goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero.

“We’ve a Spanish goalkeeping coach and he has been a genius at telling me every week exactly what kind of task lies in front of me in the following match,” said Torres.

“Nobody has ever worked with me like this before. It’s outstanding. Basically, I know days before the next game exactly the best way to finish a chance against the keeper I’m about to face. Xavi Valero tells me precisely what each keeper tends to do – stay big, go down early, if they have a preferred side they try to push you to. It’s vital information. I’ve refined the way I take chances as a result.”