Rafa has a chip on his shoulder - Fergie - Sport

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United boss Ferguson, accused in the past of 'tapping' players, warned: 'We're investigating Liverpool's role in this, there's no question about that. We're not letting them off the hook. We'll see how it comes out.

War of words: Ferguson and Benitez

'David Gill (chief executive) is working on that at the moment and he'll get to the bottom of it.'

Liverpool manager Benitez was fuming after a Premier League panel blocked his attempt to land United's Argentina defender, who instead made a £6.8million move to Real Madrid on Thursday.

But Ferguson, adamant that Heinze could not join their bitter rivals, snapped: 'They (Liverpool) had no chance of winning that case. He (Benitez) obviously didn't study the Premier League rules. I'm disappointed with some of the stuff he's come out with. He's got a chip on his shoulder about it.

'And he's going on about Saturday fixtures after international games — he wants to look at our fixture list over the last two or three years and see if he has anything to complain about.'

Ferguson criticised Heinze's agent, Roberto Rodriguez, for driving the player's desire to quit — and revealed that Old Trafford chief executive Gill has launched an investigation into the sorry episode.

Claims that Crystal Palace were approached to sign Heinze and then move him on to Liverpool, to bypass the official ruling, threaten to plunge relations between the North- West giants to an alltime low.

Ferguson also rapped Benitez's complaint that Javier Mascherano's transfer to Anfield from West Ham was harder than Carlos Tevez's to Old Trafford: 'Yeah, that was easy, of course it was — three months.'

Benitez hit back by claiming: 'They (United) have shown us they think we are stronger now, because they didn't want us to sign a very good player. Now we have to show them they're right.'