Rafa's Torres warning

Rafa Benitez has claimed he will quit as Liverpool boss if star striker Fernando Torres was ever sold against his will.

The Reds' so called financial problems have ensured rumours the club's American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, would be prepared to let Torres go should a huge offer come in for the Spanish ace at some point in the future.

However, Benitez is confident Torres will never be sold but, if the unthinkable did happen, he admitted he would be forced to resign.

Benitez told The Times: "I'm confident it will never happen," he said. "If it did, I'd resign."

The Spanish coach has also reflected on his time in the Anfield hot-seat and, while admitting some mistakes had been made in the transfer market during his five years in charge, he insists he has been restricted financially when signing new talent.

"When we have spent big, normally it's been very good business," he said. "Torres, (Javier) Mascherano, (Pepe) Reina, (Xabi) Alonso.

"(Robbie) Keane is a good player but we had to sell him because he was not playing at the level we knew he could play.

"Ryan (Babel) was signed for the future and we are waiting for his improvement. He has to be more consistent.

"With the fringe players, we needed to take a gamble on Bosmans and one, two million-pound players. Some of these players have not been good enough for us.

"It is a risk you have to accept when there is not too much money about."

Benitez added: "We can only buy one or two big, £20 million players a year," Benitez said. "If we want to have money available then we have to sell some players. We have to sell expensive and buy as cheaply as possible.

"Aquilani fit would be £20-30million. We checked with doctors and they said he would be out one, maybe two months. We have lost some time, but I signed the player for five years, not five weeks."