Rafa Benitez famously won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005.
The Spaniard, now in China, spent six years at Anfield as Liverpool boss and managed to win the Champions League and the FA Cup once in his tenure there.
Klopp is very close to achieving something that Benitez and all the other Reds managers in the last three decades failed to do – win the Premier League title.
Benitez was asked about the differences between his Liverpool side and the current Reds side and he claimed that Klopp is more valued by Liverpool’s current owners.
He said: “We had no money. Our transfer budget in my last year was €17 million, (£13.1m) and you can’t compete with that. We had tried to sell and buy, it was the only way to close in on our rivals.
“This team have had two or three years of very good investment and a lot of successful signings. As well as that, there’s a coach whose opinion is valued by the owners.”
The differences in transfer budgets is truly baffling considering that Liverpool spent over five times as much as what Benitez had in his final window on just one player in Virgil van Dijk.
However, the Reds should be commended for their investments in recent years with Philippe Coutinho’s sale aiding them to complete two of their most expensive transfers over the last two years.
Liverpool’s current owners aren’t the ones that were at the helm during Benitez’s time at the club which also makes a huge difference. Klopp’s current superiors clearly trust his approach and the German has repaid the trust with the Champions League and soon the Premier League.
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