Benitez puts a £15m price tag on Alonso and Crouch

The two players are tipped for summer moves from Anfield and, with the Liverpool manager continuing his pursuit of Aston Villa's Gareth Barry, 26-year-old Alonso is almost certain to leave after nearly four years at the club.

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Crouch has become a fringe player because of the striking success of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, but scored on his last three Barclays Premier League appearances. However, Benitez made it clear he would dismiss Portsmouth's attempt to get Crouch for £8m.

'If we receive a very good offer, and by that I mean £15m, we will consider it,' said Benitez. 'I'm reading about £8m but if we only receive that then I'd rather keep the player.

'He wants to play every week, which isn't easy here because Torres is on fire and Gerrard is playing as a second striker. We've offered him a new contract. We like the player and we want him to stay. But we cannot offer him a guarantee he will start every game every week.

'Peter said in December he wanted to talk about a new contract but time passed and they weren't really interested in signing at that moment. His representatives said they wanted to wait, so now we will see.

'If we receive offers for Crouch we will analyse each one. I know he has only one year left on his contract but I am happy to keep the player for another year if I have to.

'You always want good players in your squad and Peter is a good player. And, don't forget, he is an English player, which is really important when you consider the market.'

Sammy Lee is set to return to the Liverpool coaching staff following Alex Miller's departure to take charge of Japanese side JEF United Chiba.

Lee, 49, is a former Liverpool and England midfielder. He worked for 11 years as a coach with the club but left for a role with England soon after Benitez took over in the summer of 2004.

He joined Bolton a year later as assistant to Sam Allardyce, succeeded him as manager in April last year but was sacked in October.

Benitez also confirmed that Harry Kewell will be leaving on a free transfer.