We couldn't control Madrid situation on Owen, insists Benitez

LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez admitted yesterday that once Real Madrid declared an interest in Michael Owen it became impossible to keep the England striker.

The new Anfield chief announced Owen's departure to the Bernabeu and the arrival of winger Antonio Nunez from the Spanish giants in a deal in which Liverpool will get only £8m for the player, who is already in the last year of his contract.

Benitez promised he will move quickly to bring in more players with the Owen cash to "balance" the side. Real Sociedad midfielder Xabi Alonso and Barcelona right-sided midfielder Luis Garcia are the likely candidates.

But it is not the arrival of more young Spanish talent that will dominate the minds of the Kop, only the loss of their star striker.

Benitez explained: "I would hope to use the money from Michael's deal to bring those players in quickly. But I must explain we were very, very happy with Michael. He trains well and is a fantastic player.

"For us we know he must go because his contract finishes in a year. But that was not the problem, we had waited one year and two months for a new contract. And we knew that Real Madrid knew that.

"It was impossible to control the situation. For us it was bad but at the end it was impossible. He will sign a contract with a good team in Real Madrid and we need to use this money to balance the team.

Benitez dismissed the theory that he is selling off the English players in the squad he inherited, with Danny Murphy also moving this week to Charlton for £2.5m.

He said: "We may have lost two English players, but the ones who are here also love Liverpool. To talk about Spanish, French, German players is a mistake. They are all good professionals. Look at Arsenal, they were 30 points above us, how many English players do they have? They have good professionals and good players.

"If you only have English players maybe you end up playing for only fifth place. We need good players, good professionals, maybe we could have 20 English players and win things but for me I do not think that is possible.

"I have Gerrard and Carragher, I am very happy with them. Their best quality is their mentality and they are good competitors. But you need a squad of 20 who can play 10 months together, all sorts of players."

Benitez revealed he thought Owen was happy at the club, until he heard of Real Madrid's interest.

He said: "The only thing I can say is that on Tuesday I talked with him about the match and his position on the bench, everything was normal for him and me. Everyone talked about the situation afterwards but for me it was very easy, he only had one year left and Madrid called.

Benitez will field Djibril Cisse and Milan Baros as his front pair at Tottenham today, a double act that looked highly promising in the Champions League win against AK Graz in midweek.

Benitez accepts his arrival will be blamed for Owen's departure, but he said: "I still think we will have a good season. When you have an examination you wait until the end of the course. I hope the fans will wait until the end of the season and I hope they will be happy again.

"I am happy with the team, they are understanding more what we want from them."