The memory of the Kop rising to sing the youngster’s name as he trotted onto the pitch alongside some of the greats of European football is one of the more endearing moments of last season, and underlined their desire to see local youngsters given a chance by Benitez.

Darby, a former reserve-team skipper, made three first-team appearances last season.

The Liverpool boss has lost Sami Hyypia and Jermaine Pennant on free transfers from last season’s squad and he has raised £4.2million from the sales of Paul Anderson, Jack Hobbs and Sebastian Leto so far this summer.

But the crunch will come when Liverpool receive bids for Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano from Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

That has yet to happen despite constant speculation about the pair’s future. And in such a climate it clearly makes sense for Benitez to keep Benayoun.

Benitez has publicly stated he does not want to sell Alonso or Mascherano, but he has been linked with possible replacements in Udinese’s Gokhan Inler and Inter Milan’s Esteban Cambiasso.

The saga over Alonso’s future could drag on for a few weeks yet, with the Spain international not due back for training until the day before Liverpool fly out for their tour of the Far East on July 20.

The Spanish contingent have been given an extra fortnight’s rest following the Confederations Cup.

England pair Gerrard, and new signing Glen Johnson, both return to training tomorrow following their summer internationals.

Liverpool’s first pre-season friendlies take place while they are away at their Swiss training camp. They play Swiss side St Gallen and Austrian outfit Rapid Vienna before travelling to Bangkok.

On their return they will open Espanyol’s new stadium in Barcelona on August 2, before a trip to play Lyn Oslo three days later. Their final warm-up game is at home to Torres’ former club, Atletico Madrid, on August 8.