Benitez looking to the future May 02 2008
Rafael Benitez marched away from Stamford Bridge after Liverpool's UEFA Champions League failure with his blue-print for the future firmly imprinted in his mind.
The Reds boss knows his squad is not good enough to challenge for the Premier League title and the Champions League.
Their season came to a crashing end in West London as they failed to stop Chelsea's march to Moscow in three weeks' time.
Co-owner Tom Hicks went into the devastated Liverpool dressing room after the 4-3 aggregate defeat to offer encouragement, and Benitez revealed they had "more positive talks about the future."
Estranged co-owner George Gillett was not there again, ostensibly for health reasons while Dubai International Capital's representatives also declined to accept invitations to sit in the Blues directors' box.
The reason that the Gillett-DIC camp in the war for control of the club opted for a back seat this time after attending the first-leg, was, said a source: "So as they wouldn't be a distraction at such an important game."
But that will not last much longer as the continued battle for control of the Reds hots up over the summer, with Gillett still expected to sell his 50 per cent stake at some stage to DIC.
Where that leaves Hicks and his plans for the new stadium and an improved squad is anyone's guess, but Benitez's position is rock-solid in all this and he has a clear mandate for the future from all sides.
And he will use it. The likes of John Arne Riise, Peter Crouch, Jermaine Pennant, Steve Finnan and Harry Kewell are likely to be sold.
Xabi Alonso's future is also in doubt with continued speculation that he will return to Spain.
Benitez has been told he must sell as well as buy this summer, and there is a long list of potential arrivals at Anfield, including Gareth Barry and David Bentley. Barry's arrival could hasten Alonso's exit.
Benitez is also believed to have tied up the free transfer of Swiss international full-back Philipp Degen from Borussia Dortmund, while Athletic Bilbao central defender Fernando Amorebieta is also under scrutiny.
Benitez said: "Clearly now we have to start thinking about the future. We must improve and we will add quality to the squad.
"We have two more games in the Premier League to go and obviously we will try to win them both to give our season a good ending.
"But we will be looking at the squad and preparing for next season. You can see we are closer to the top but we still need three or four new players.
"We need to keep working, our scouting department is certainly doing that. We have two more games and will try to win them and then improve the squad for next season.
"Tom Hicks came into the dressing room and said 'good effort, good job and we were unlucky'. He was very positive."