By Mighty Reds
December 6 2005

Jamie Carragher can only get better says Rafael Benitez. He also believes that it would be a waste of time for Europes top clubs to try and take Carra from Anfield He said:

"Carra is a very clever player," says the boss. "When you are clever and you work hard in training to improve things, then you grow as a player. He is growing. Each day you can see that he is still trying to learn more.

"The worst manager in the world can teach you something, but as a player you need to be like a sponge, taking it all in.

"For me, Carra last season was the best defender in England and this season he has started at the same level. Mourinho can talk about John Terry but for me Carra was fantastic last season.

"He gives us security, aggressiveness, character and when you see a player working as hard as he does, he sets an example to the rest of the team.

"Terry is similar. Carra is a local player also and gives the others a lot of safety.

"As a manager you always want players like Carra or Terry. The people who watch the games on television see players who score goals or make passes, but if you just make tackles then maybe that isn't so good to watch. But for a manager you need these players.

"With Carra you know that he will always do a good job with not many mistakes. If you want to win trophies, you can have excellent players who get 10 now and again but you need ones that are going to give you 8, 9, 8, 9 out of 10 all around the season."

Carras high level of consistency is a big part of Liverpool’s present and future and Rafa believes Carra is a Red forever.

"Other clubs know that Carra is a Liverpool lad and would not want to leave, so they don't waste their time making offers. He has signed a new contract and I'm sure he'd want to stay," he added.