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Rafa Benitez says he knew ‘100 per cent’ that Nemanja Vidic would choose Manchester United over Liverpool after a phone call with the defender’s girlfriend back in 2005.
Then with Spartak Moscow, Vidic was regarded as one of the top young centre-backs in European football and went on to cement himself as an all-time United great after a trophy-laden eight-and-a-half year stay at Old Trafford.
Vidic won 15 pieces of silverware with the Red Devils under Sir Alex Ferguson but his career could have panned out very differently had he opted to join United’s arch-rivals instead all those years ago.
Liverpool made a concerted effort to win Vidic over but the Merseyside outfit went on to complete a January move for Gabriel Paletta after admitting defeat in the race for the Serbian.
This is despite Benitez’s personal intervention, with the former Liverpool manager making contact over the phone through Vidic’s partner in an attempt to bring him to Anfield.
‘I was talking with Vidic before he signed for Manchester United. I knew 100 per cent he was not coming for us,’ Benitez told The Overlap.
‘When I was talking with him he said, “Oh, you have to talk with my girlfriend, she talks English”, and then she told me, “Oh, I like the cities like Manchester and Liverpool“.
‘And I thought, “Why is she talking about Manchester?”, so I knew already that United were making a bigger offer than us.
‘We didn’t have the money to buy the players and we didn’t have the money to pay the players.
‘That why, always I say, why for Liverpool it is so difficult to stay there for a while.’
Benitez went into further detail about Liverpool’s struggles to compete financially with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City.
‘I think the new owners were lucky because we sold [Fernando] Torres for £50m, then afterwards it was [Luis] Suarez, then afterwards it was [Philippe] Coutinho, so they have money to spend,’ the Spaniard added.
‘If not, you have to spend a lot of money that Chelsea, Manchester City, that they spend, and they don’t need to bring the money, they spend the money.’
According to Benitez, the greater allure of London and Manchester City to foreign players was another reason Liverpool missed out on signing so many top talents during his tenure.
‘For us, for Liverpool, it was very difficult. Why? Because the families, they prefer to stay in London because of the airport or maybe Manchester because of the international airport,’ he went on.
‘And then Liverpool was the third choice because of the size of the city. They like to go shopping in London.
‘There was one wife who was talking to the other wives to get them to London, even to New York, for shopping and I lost the player, I had to sell the player, because it was very difficult.
‘You cannot pay the salaries. In terms of the city, I like Liverpool, I love Liverpool, but if you go to London the wives will say, “Oh, the families, people…”, and then you more flights and Manchester airport…
‘And Liverpool was not winning trophies. Manchester United were winning trophies, Chelsea were winning trophies, even Arsenal were winning trophies, so it was very difficult.’
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