Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez puts £30 million tag on Xabi Alonso

Rafael Benitez will refuse to let Xabi Alonso move to Real Madrid unless the Spanish club match his £30 million asking price, even though the player is believed to have made it clear to his manager that he wishes to leave Liverpool.

In public, Alonso has remained non-committal on his future amid feverish speculation linking him with the Bernabeu and he has, thus far, not handed in an official transfer request. In private, though, it is thought the player has his heart set on a return home after five years on Merseyside.

The pair’s relationship is thought to have soured over the last 18 months after clumsy attempts to offload the player last summer, but Benitez remains adamant he will not be pressured into selling a player he wishes to keep should Real fail to meet the asking price.

Their last bid is believed to have been around £20 million. Real Madrid director general Jorge Valdano, the man tasked with making club president Florentino Perez’s whims in the transfer market reality, admitted last week an agreement was “some way off”, although that has been read in some quarters as acknowledgement from Spain that Alonso may need to act himself to break the deadlock.

Manuel Pellegrini, the Real Madrid manager, and Miguel Pardeza, the club’s sporting director, have both suggested since then that Madrid’s interest is undimmed.

Even a transfer request may not be enough. Benitez is also facing a battle to keep hold of Javier Mascherano, Alonso’s midfield partner, another player thought to have intimated a wish to move to pastures new, with Barcelona his preferred destination.

In both cases, the Liverpool manager is resolute enough to risk retaining unsettled players unless a suitable offer arrives.

Both are due to meet up with their Liverpool team-mates this week following international duty.

Benitez has been linked with the likes of Esteban Cambiasso, of Inter Milan, and fellow midfielder Javi Martinez, of Athletic Bilbao, but he knows replacing one player, let alone both, would be both expensive and disruptive as he seeks the pre-season stability needed to challenge for the title.