Benitez Coy on Reina Future Despite £4.1mil Release Clause
Wow, there’s been a whole lot of talk about Pepe Reina lately; despite flying under the radar for much of the season while on loan in Italy, with the season winding down, the Spaniard is making a lot of noise — and not all of it has been good.
Although Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has more of less ruled out the 31-year old ever playing for the Reds again, Reina has refused to rule out a return to Merseyside this summer if things don’t work out at Napoli — though he hopes to stay on the continent with “the bestest manager ever” Rafa Benitez. There’s been quite a few suitors rumoured with a move for the shot stopper, but the Napoli manager has remained coy on the ‘keepers future.
“He reads the game very well and is one of the best goalkeepers in the world,” said Benitez when asked if he’d like to keep Reina past his initial loan spell. “Will he stay at Napoli? He has a clause and we know it – meanwhile he should continue to do well until the end of the season.” The revelation of the clause, confirmed to be for £4.1mil and allowing him to leave at the end of the season, could be both a blessing and a curse for Liverpool.
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have both been linked with a move for the the 31-year old — though now that it’s well known that he’s no longer needed, or wanted, on Merseyside, and could leave for less than £5mil, a side could try to snatch him up on the cheap. Though Reina has been a fantastic servant, his time has come and gone; now, let’s try to get some cash for him.
;( To be honest I’m not sure what we should do with Reina. I mean he’s obviously a great GK and he loves L’pool a lot, but his shenanigans last summer lead us to replace him. We can’t afford to bench Reina or Mignolet, but letting him go, especially for only 5 Mil seems cruel. I guess the most that we can hope is that Pepe is happy whereever he ends up…YNWA!
All this unsuitability is his own fault for not training hard enough for years (He could have been the best in the world but no he slacked of on the training pitch).
Flirting with another team and then finally disrespecting the new project that has shown it self to be the best viewing in England football.
In a lot of ways, not having a decent back-up that’s pushing for a first team spot is our fault. A lack of competition can lead to complacency — I think in a lot of ways that’s what happened to Pepe.
I think he was just waiting to sign for Barcelona and when the offer didn’t come, he expected that we’d just be sitting around waiting for him; doesn’t work that way.
He’s been a fantastic servant for LFC and he pains me to see him go, but his time has come. Whether Mignolet is the right man for the job is still debatable, but I don’t see a way back for Reina.