By Mighty Reds
August 9 2005

Rafael Benitez is still angry at the Home Office’s decision to refuse Mark Gonzales a work permit to play in the Premiership. One of the reasons Gonzalez was refused was that his country, Chile, are outside of the top 70 in FIFA’s rankings. Benitez though insists that Mark Gonzales has enough quality to play in the Premiership .

Rafa said:

"I was really surprised," he said. "How you can play for your national team, are the best player in your country and play in a league like the Spanish League and then not be good enough for the Premiership is something I don't understand.

"Maybe it is just an administration problem, because if they saw the player play, they could not say these things.

"We spent six months scouting the player. We are the Champions League holders, and if we think he is good enough for us that is because we have spoken to a lot of people and they have told us he is good enough.

"In Chile they have sold about 1,000 Liverpool shirts. That shows how important the player is in Chile, and how important he is to us.

"But despite all this, some people have said that he is not good enough. We didn't pay a lot of money for him because our scouts have done a good job. It doesn't mean he is a bad player.

"I would say 50 per cent of the players in the Premiership are worse than him. Only if you know nothing about football can you say that he is not good enough."

He added: "We will keep an interest in the player. We know that some things will change when he plays more games for Chile.

"He is a month away from being fit. If you sign a player when he is not fit then that shows you have confidence."