It’s really Israeli’s end? (See what I did there?)

I’m saddened by this quote attributed by the Guardian to Yossi Benayoun as speculation links him with a move to Chelsea:

"Ancelotti wants me for next season and now everything depends on Liverpool... Chelsea will have to pay some £6m, but I believe that, in the end, I'll be moving there."

As things stand, Yossi is one of our better players and it would be a worry to lose him. More than that, while vultures are circling our truly world class players (Torres, Gerrard, Mascherano) it would be something of a blow if we can’t even keep Benayoun.

Still, if the quote is accurate, it looks like the player wants to go and to get £6m (a £1m profit on what we paid) for a 30 year-old wouldn’t be the worst bit of business AS LONG AS THE MONEY IS AVAILABLE TO BE REINVESTED IN SIGNING NEW PLAYERS. It is also questionable how much of a blow it would be to lose him.

In his first season at Liverpool, Yossi was at best a decent squad player. He was not good enough to hold down a place in the first XI (yet Ryan Babel was!) and ironically for a player who had excelled at West Ham, looked too lightweight to cut it in the Premiership. His second season at Anfield began equally unimpressively with Albert Bloody Riera signed and preferred ahead of him. Had he been sold for £6m in January 2009, few people would have been up in arms about it. Then a late winner in the Bernabeu gave him the confidence to produce his best form in that season’s run-in and totally transformed the way fans regarded him.

A hat-trick against Burnley early in this season suggested this form was here to stay but an injury set-back reverted him to the Yossi we had seen from August 2007 to January 2009.

Which is the real Benayoun? If he were to stay on at Anfield, would we see the August 2007-January 2009 version or the February 2009-December 2009 version? Because quite frankly, if it’s the former, who wouldn’t take £6m for him? There is absolutely no evidence that Yossi can reproduce his best form over the course of a whole season.

I do wonder why he would want to go to Chelsea. Apart from the obvious factors that they are the reigning Premiership and FA Cup Champions; certain to be in the hunt for major honours again next season and also will be competing in next season’s Champions League(!), my issue is that Yossi won’t be able to hold down a first team spot there. Ironically, he needs to be in a squad like Liverpool’s if he wants to be a key player. His desire to join Chelsea suggests that either he thinks he is better than he is or, more likely, he just wants glory and medals regardless of the size of his role in achieving them (AKA a Michael Owen).

I wouldn’t begrudge Stevie G or even Torres a move to a (foreign) club at which they can compete for top honours because they would be the best players at pretty much any club in the world and they probably are too good for Liverpool FC at the moment. Barring a brief purple patch, Yossi wasn’t good enough to hold down a first team place at Anfield until the squad had deteriorated sufficiently to leave him as one of the few creative players left at the club.

Ideally, I would like Yossi to stay on but if he wants to go to Stamford Bridge then fine. Losing him won’t have the catastrophic effect that losing Alonso had last season. We’ll take the £6m, thank him for his efforts for our club and tell him to go fuck himself.