Alonso's Liverpool departure planned for 12 monthsReal Madrid Madrid (mədrĭd`, Span. mäthhrēth`), city (1990 pop. 3,120,732), capital of Spain and of Madrid prov., central Spain, and the focus of its own autonomous region, on the Manzanares River. midfielder
In association football, a midfielder is a player whose position of play is midway between the attacking strikers and the defenders (highlighted in blue on the diagram). Xavi Alonso has admitted he planned to quit Liverpool from the moment Anfield boss Rafa Benitez tried to sell him last year. Benitez had wanted to off-load See offload. Alonso to Juventus in July 2008 to raise money to sign Gareth Barry Gareth Barry (born February 23, 1981 in Hastings, East Sussex), is an English footballer and captain of Aston Villa. He also plays for England. Along with former team-mate Gareth Southgate, he was the only player to play in both final matches at the old Wembley Stadium, once for from Aston Villa. Alonso was disappointed to hear that Benitez was willing to let him go and resolved to leave when the right opportunity arose. That finally happened when he joined Real for 30 million pounds (38 million euros) in August after revealing to Benitez that he wanted to leave the Premier League club. "It was a very difficult decision for me to make," he told Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a 24-hour sports news channel in the United Kingdom. It is run by BSkyB whose sports channels include Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, and Xtra, as well as Sky Sports HD1 and HD2. . "After five years I have experienced wonderful nights at Anfield, to have experienced the support of probably the best fans in the world. "That's why I have always been very grateful and I will always have them in my mind and it has been a pleasure. "Last year the club proposed me that I might have to be sold to find funds for new players. "It was a difficult decision or difficult moment to accept that. I accepted that as a professional and that moment probably changed my mind and I thought that maybe from that moment that maybe it was time for a change." Alonso has since admitted that his relationship with Benitez deteriorated when he demanded to leave but the Spanish Spanish, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, issuing from Spanish Lake, S Ont., Canada, NW of Sudbury, and flowing generally S through Biskotasi and Agnew lakes to Lake Huron opposite Manitoulin island. There are several hydroelectric stations on the river. international reveals that their relationship was always a professional one. "There has been a lot of rumours but I have always said that it has been simply a professional relationship," he said. "I have always tried to do what he asked to do. What he asked of me on the pitch to do the talking on the pitch and that's that as far as that." 
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