Buy my top targets or I'll be off, warns Rafa

"That is no way to build a team that can challenge for the Premiership title."

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The Liverpool manager identified the players who will leave, including Mark Gonzalez, Craig Bellamy and Bolo Zenden, then sounded an ominous note by demanding instant action over the names he wants to bring in.

In an emotional outburst that laid bare a growing element of internal strife at Anfield, an exasperated Benitez admitted he was losing patience over the number of protracted transfer negotiations that ultimately prove fruitless.

After selling Gonzalez to Real Betis, telling Zenden he was free to leave and hinting he was ready to accept offers for Bellamy, he revealed he is closing in on two major targets who could help sustain a title challenge next season.

Speaking at the team's Athens hotel in the aftermath of their defeat by AC Milan, he delivered a thinly veiled attack on chief executive Rick Parry as he spelled out the dire consequences of missing out again on key recruits.

"I am tired of us always talking and talking," he said. "We talk and talk, but we never finish. Talking to players we want to sign for anything up to six months, then losing them, bothers me greatly.

"We cannot let it happen again. I made Valencia champions for the first time in 31 years, but the board decided there was no need to improve. The next season, we finished fifth.

"It is a situation I have been keeping an eye on here over the last few years, because people have been saying we are getting close to the title when we are not.

"The truth is we need to take two or three steps at a time to catch up, and we need to do it now."

Midfielder Xabi Alonso has been assured over his future but Benitez refused to be drawn on Harry Kewell, whose contract has only one more year to run. Valencia winger David Silva, who was recently called up by Spain, has emerged as a new target.

Benitez added: "The club now have the power and potential to achieve all these things but we cannot hesitate any longer.

"We have new owners who have invested £400million. They want a new stadium filled to capacity every game and they know what is required."

The Liverpool boss has worked his way through nearly £100million in his three seasons at Anfield, but he insists the time has arrived for concentrating on quality rather than quantity.

Benitez's mood was not helped by misgivings over the team's accommodation in Athens. Several players were unhappy with their hotel rooms and demanded to be moved.

Benitez passed on their complaints, as well as outlining his transfer plans, in a late-night phone call to co-owner George Gillett.