Albert Riera has been suspended and put up for sale by Liverpool after his criticism of Rafael Benítez.
The winger was dropped from the Liverpool squad for Thursday night’s Europa League game at home to Lille and told not to return to training until Monday, meaning that he will also miss the Barclays Premier League match away to Manchester United on Sunday.
Riera could leave Anfield in weeks, with an immediate move to CSKA Moscow or Spartak Moscow, who are tracking the 27-year-old, a distinct possibility. The transfer window in Russia has been extended until April 8.
Riera, who joined Liverpool from Espanyol in September 2008 for £8 million, has had a fraught relationship with Benítez for several months and his frustrations came to a head on Wednesday.
He gave an interview to Radio Marca in which he accused the Liverpool manager of giving him the silent treatment, claimed that he was being left out of the team for personal reasons and stated that Benítez’s brand of football is not good enough to earn him the Real Madrid job.
The Spain winger’s withering attack on his manager has also earned him a club fine of two weeks’ wages, but, more significantly, it has signalled the imminent end of his Anfield career, especially if either of the Moscow clubs are willing to match Liverpool’s £8 million valuation.
Riera has been a bit-part figure in Benítez’s squad this season, with a combination of injury problems and poor form costing him a regular starting place. The fact that his outburst came on the eve of Thursday night’s crucial Europa League match meant that Benítez felt he had no choice but to omit him from his plans for the game.
It is not the first time that the pair have been at loggerheads, nor is it the first time that Riera has been fined for his behaviour.
This season he was reprimanded after a training-ground altercation with a promising reserve-team player in which Riera reacted violently to the teenager. The incident incensed Benítez and convinced him that he would have no choice but to sell the Majorca-born winger at the end of this campaign.
His departure date is now likely to have been brought forward and will be confirmed if either of the Moscow clubs are willing to match Liverpool’s £8 million valuation of a player who, until of late, has been a regular in the Spain squad.
The winger was dropped from the Liverpool squad for Thursday night’s Europa League game at home to Lille and told not to return to training until Monday, meaning that he will also miss the Barclays Premier League match away to Manchester United on Sunday.
Riera could leave Anfield in weeks, with an immediate move to CSKA Moscow or Spartak Moscow, who are tracking the 27-year-old, a distinct possibility. The transfer window in Russia has been extended until April 8.
Riera, who joined Liverpool from Espanyol in September 2008 for £8 million, has had a fraught relationship with Benítez for several months and his frustrations came to a head on Wednesday.
He gave an interview to Radio Marca in which he accused the Liverpool manager of giving him the silent treatment, claimed that he was being left out of the team for personal reasons and stated that Benítez’s brand of football is not good enough to earn him the Real Madrid job.
The Spain winger’s withering attack on his manager has also earned him a club fine of two weeks’ wages, but, more significantly, it has signalled the imminent end of his Anfield career, especially if either of the Moscow clubs are willing to match Liverpool’s £8 million valuation.
Riera has been a bit-part figure in Benítez’s squad this season, with a combination of injury problems and poor form costing him a regular starting place. The fact that his outburst came on the eve of Thursday night’s crucial Europa League match meant that Benítez felt he had no choice but to omit him from his plans for the game.
It is not the first time that the pair have been at loggerheads, nor is it the first time that Riera has been fined for his behaviour.
This season he was reprimanded after a training-ground altercation with a promising reserve-team player in which Riera reacted violently to the teenager. The incident incensed Benítez and convinced him that he would have no choice but to sell the Majorca-born winger at the end of this campaign.
His departure date is now likely to have been brought forward and will be confirmed if either of the Moscow clubs are willing to match Liverpool’s £8 million valuation of a player who, until of late, has been a regular in the Spain squad.
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