Exclusive Rafa Benitez interview: This is best Liverpool squad ever

It is almost a cliche, but as the season approaches the question must once again be asked of Liverpool: is this finally their year?

Kop boss Rafa Benitez greets the inquiry with a grin. It is the same question he has fielded every year in what is now his fifth at Anfield.

He replied: "A big year for me, no? Another 'big year'!".

Yet he answers with a more relaxed air than in previous seasons.

That is because after four years of wheeling and dealing, he has a squad he believes is ready to challenge for the Prem crown.

The title has eluded Liverpool for two decades, and during that time they have barely made a challenge to the elite of Manchester United, Arsenal and latterly Chelsea.

For all his talk in previous seasons, Benitez knew that he did not have the personnel to make a sustained challenge. Now he feels he does.

And yet he is at pains to stop well short of any predictions about winning the Premier League.

He said: "I am confident about my squad, and I am happy that we have the best squad since I arrived at Anfield. But the key is not to say we will win the title, because the Premier League is now the best - and most difficult - in Europe.

"The standard has gone up so much since I arrived here.

"Back then, there were good players in the league, but Spain, Italy and Germany all signed some of the best players in the world.

"Now, everybody wants to come here, and that quality is amazing.

"Just look at the Champions League. Three of the last four were from England, and Arsenal played really well in the competition too.

"So you have to get past the three best teams in Europe to win the Premier League.

"That will not be easy, but it makes for an incredible league. We have improved and progressed every year since I arrived, but look at the history of the league.

"We got 82 points which was a record for Liverpool, and that has allowed us only to finish third. The standard has risen massively, and we have had to work to keep up."

Benitez was faced with a similar situation at Valencia, when he took on the financial might of Real Madrid and Barcelona and won, despite never matching them in the transfer market.

This challenge though, he argues, is even harder, because United, Chelsea and Arsenal are even better.

He said: "They are the best in Europe. They can spend £20million on players just for the bench. But my belief is unshakeable that we can compete with them.

"We are not the richest club, and we have had a lot of work to do, but I have kept my desire and my confidence that it is possible to win."

Despite European success, the Spanish coach is loathe to raise expectations, but has lost none of his drive for the title.

Every season he has crept closer to the sort of squad he wants in a masterplan that has taken five years. But despite his caution, Rafa is happy and quietly confident.

"When I arrived maybe I didn't realise exactly how big a job it would be, but once inside you learn little by little the things about your club that nobody knows.

"It has been slower than we like because the others are so strong, but last season was the best squad we have had, and this year could be better.

"It has not been ideal, because we have had to bring in maybe seven or eight players a year, and that can't help you win things.

"The squad we had at the start did not have a very high value, and this squad is the equal in value of the other top teams. We have been spending big, but selling big, and the net is less than the other big clubs.

"They were spending to add to very strong squads already, where we have created a totally new squad.

"There are only three or four players now from when we arrived, but they are very, very good players, and we have a very, very good squad. Maybe our European success hasn't helped us, because it made people believe we were ready to challenge for the league when we were not.

"Now though, we are in the position we always wanted to be. You can say it's the starting point in a way, but we have the benefit of learning from the mistakes of recent seasons, and we are at another level now."

Benitez also wants to repay the faith of the supporters who stuck with him through his darkest hour last season, when it looked like he would be forced out of Anfield.

He said: "I always had confidence I would be here, because I went through a similar thing in Spain.

"The only thing you can do is work harder, and keep confidence in yourself.

"I had fantastic support from the staff, and I think we learned a lot from it.

"The fans were amazing too, and I feel a responsibility to them, because they give so much. It would be nice to give them something back."

YEAR ONE: THE NEW BOY
Benitez laughs about his side that won the Champions League in this season. Biscan, Baros, Nunez, Josemi, Smicer, Hamann and Morientes were also regulars, but Alonso arrived.

YEAR TWO: STOP GAP
Reina was key, along with Crouch, as a procession of players were bought and sold, heralding the brief Anfield careers of Kromkamp, Gonzalez, Paletta and Zenden.

YEAR THREE: GOING DUTCH
More recognisable as Benitez's team, Mascherano was the key signing, along with Agger, to give more quality to the team that reached the Champions League final.

YEAR FOUR: TORRE DE FORCE
The record signing of Torres transformed Liverpool and suggested they could go further, but Babel, Lucas and Skrtel were also key signings.

YEAR FIVE: MISSING LINK
Keane is already secured, and if Barry follows Liverpool will have a completely new look again. With Babel, Kuyt, Alonso, Degen in reserve, this may be Rafa's strongest squad yet.

*Rafa Benitez was promoting the live coverage of Liverpool's final pre-season friendly against Lazio, available exclusively on LFC TV, part of the Setanta Sports package and Liverpool's opening Premier League game of the season against Sunderland, available exclusively on Setanta Sports 1 on Saturday, August 16.

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