Babel and Rodriguez moves frozen for now

Rafa Benitez has reiterated his desire not to sell Ryan Babel during the transfer window - as Liverpool's bid to land Maxi Rodriguez hit a slight stumbling block.

The Holland forward was the subject of £9m bid from Birmingham City this week that was hastily rebuffed by Benitez, who first stated his intention to keep Babel after the 1-1 FA Cup draw at Reading seven days ago.

Though he has found chances to shine limited during the current campaign, Benitez - whose side face a blank weekend after arctic conditions claimed tomorrow's scheduled Anfield date with Tottenham - is not keen to part with Babel.

That's why the manager will resist any further overtures for a player he brought to the club from Ajax in the summer of 2007.

"Always you have to listen to offers for players as that is part of the way football is going but the player wants to stay," said Benitez.

"If Ryan plays to the level that we know he can, I will be very pleased. It's very clear for us, we will train with the players every day and have them ready for the next game. You always have to think about what is best for the club."

Benitez had hoped to be in a position to unveil Rodriguez yesterday but he is now being forced to be patient, as the Argentine wide man tries to thrash out a deal for money that he is owed by Atletico Madrid.

It should not be a fatal blow to the Reds' ambitions of landing him but it is not an ideal situation for them to be in by any means.

"We are talking with Atletico," said Benitez. "We have an agreement and we will see what happens but I cannot talk too much, as he is not our player.

"All I will say is that he is a player with experience of international football with Argentina and can score goals but, still, he is not our player. He has some problems with them and we have to wait."

One piece of transfer business that has finally been wrapped up is Andrea Dossena's move to Napoli, the Reds securing a £4.4m fee for a player who failed to get to grips with the hurly burly of the English game.

"It was a good opportunity for us and a good opportunity for him," said Benitez. "He wanted to move to give himself a chance of playing in the World Cup.

"We tried to sign players with an offensive attitude last year like (Philipp) Degen and Dossena; to sign wingers can cost you £25m or £30m. To sign offensive full-backs is cheaper. The idea was to improve our attacking style with the full-backs pushing on.

"He had some good games but he could not always perform at the level we wanted. It was best for him and best for us for him to move on."

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