Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow claims Rafa Benitez had a transfer budget of £20million this summer which, on initial scrutiny, does not quite add up.
Liverpool sold Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa and Sebastian Leto for a total of £36m and bought Glen Johnson, Alberto Aquilani and Sortis Kyrgiakos for a total of £39m, leaving £17m apparently unspent.
Even for a club whose accountants were forced to warn over the summer their income might not be sufficient to meet their debts, this seems a maths error too far.
The explanation is that Liverpool have taken a cue from Arsenal's management, which presents Arsene Wenger with a transfer budget that is also expected to cover the cost of extending the contracts of current players.
Thus, Robin van Persie's signing-on fee and wages came out of Wenger's £15m summer transfer budget.
So Benitez saw £17m spent on new contracts for Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.
Nevertheless, given the majority of Johnson's £18m fee was forgiven debt on Peter Crouch's move to Portsmouth, it could be argued Benitez had no new money to spend.
Liverpool sold Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa and Sebastian Leto for a total of £36m and bought Glen Johnson, Alberto Aquilani and Sortis Kyrgiakos for a total of £39m, leaving £17m apparently unspent.
Even for a club whose accountants were forced to warn over the summer their income might not be sufficient to meet their debts, this seems a maths error too far.
The explanation is that Liverpool have taken a cue from Arsenal's management, which presents Arsene Wenger with a transfer budget that is also expected to cover the cost of extending the contracts of current players.
Thus, Robin van Persie's signing-on fee and wages came out of Wenger's £15m summer transfer budget.
So Benitez saw £17m spent on new contracts for Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.
Nevertheless, given the majority of Johnson's £18m fee was forgiven debt on Peter Crouch's move to Portsmouth, it could be argued Benitez had no new money to spend.
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