Rafael Benitez is apparently out to upset as many people as he can.

The normally chilled-out Liverpool manager, who likes to adopt the classic Buddha pose in times of great stress, is seemingly now on a mission to stir things up.

According to the Mirror, Rafa is ready to ask the Liverpool board for £50 million to fund transfers for David Villa, Gareth Barry, David Silva and Dani Alves.

That last name will make interesting reading for Barcelona, who to all intents and purposes own the full-back after agreeing a monster £30 million fee with Sevilla, and the Brazilian himself has said: "I am immensely happy because it is a dream for me to become part of a great team and of a great club. It is such an important step in my professional career and in my life. It is difficult to express in words the feeling, but joining Barça is such a personal triumph."

Although, after mentioning the Gremlin-a-like in the opening lines of the story, he is strangely not mentioned again, so perhaps the whole link was just made up to meet the required word count.

One person whose dealings with Liverpool are very real is Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp. The first English boss to win a trophy since Alf Ramsey saw his £8 million bid for Peter Crouch laughed out of the Kop by Liverpool, who want close to double that amount, perhaps in reaction to UEFA's request for them to take a smaller slice of the Champions League revenue pie next season.

Redknapp is of course having none of it, and hit out at the club for their greed, saying: "It is known I like Crouchie but it doesn't look like anything is happening here. I think Liverpool want a bit too much money. If that is the case then we'll move on to the next option."

People may not be too impressed with Cristiano Ronaldo's decision to go off on holiday with his Manchester United future still up in the air, but he is certainly not the only footballer with the temerity to do so.

Steve Sidwell did the same thing while Aston Villa were trying to sign to him from Chelsea, but the good news is that he is now back from his week away at Pontins to complete his £5.5 million move.

Martin O'Neill has also been told that West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand can do the Soulja Boy crunk all the way to Villa Park for £8 million, and the Villa boss could make it a triple-whammy if he gets Everton striker Andy Johnson as planned.

After going virtually the whole of last season without a left-footed player, Tottenham Hotspur could well have the choice of three next season.

Along with the arrival of Giovani dos Santos and the return to fitness of Gareth Bale, Spurs manager Juande Ramos now wants to bring in former Sevilla protégé Diego Capel to White Hart Lane for £8 million.

Defender Michael Dawson could be high-fiving the highly-rated winger at the front door on his way out if rumours that he is going to join Aaron Lennon at Newcastle United are to be believed.

Finally, while almost every other media outlet is confidently predicting that PSV's Heurelho Gomes will become the new number one at the Lane, the Sun say it'll be Brescia's Emiliano Viviano.

Meanwhile, Bolton Wanderers are ready to put all their eggs (12 million to be exact) in that basket marked 'Johann Elmander ', and Middlesbrough still haven't signed Paris St Germain's 21-year-old midfielder Didier Digard, but they may do so by the end of the week. Or not.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport