Benitez sorry to see Crouch go

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Crouch has completed a medical at Fratton Park and the finer points of his £11million move back to the south coast are almost complete with Pompey likely to formally confirm the move on Thursday.

But Benitez has pre-emptied Crouch's final departure from Merseyside by saying: "He is a good professional and a nice person, and we would have wanted him to stay. We offered him a new contract."

He added: "But sometimes you have to understand the player. He wanted to play a lot more, and with Fernando Torres now first choice, that was always going to be difficult.

"I can understand Peter's situation. But he did very well for this club and we always supported him when people doubted the decision to bring him to Anfield."

Benitez made it clear that he will now try to sign a replacement striker, and refused to rule out a possible move for Spanish star David Villa.

He said: "We have Torres, Andriy Voronin, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel and Steven Gerrard, who can play as a second striker.

"But we will try to bring in another option. Villa is a player we know all about and he is on our list. But maybe it will be difficult."

Benitez now hopes to complete the drawn-out saga of Gareth Barry's move from Aston Villa, which the club still hope to have sealed by the weekend.

Whether that will be in time for Liverpool's first pre-season friendly at Tranmere on Saturday is debatable. But Benitez would wish to have the midfielder on board for the training camp in Switzerland which starts on Sunday and includes three matches before a return to the UK ahead of the trip to play Rangers in Glasgow on July 26.