Rafa Benitez isn't planning an exit strategy from Liverpool, despite continued delays over signing his new contract. The Times says Liverpool's league slump has coincided with a very public dispute over Benítez's contract talks, with the manager having surprised the club's hierarchy by rejecting a fifth draft of the deal.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the club's American owners, have bowed to his requests for more control over transfer policy and the youth academy, as well as a wage increase to about £4 million a year. Sticking points remain about the job security of his backroom staff and his concern at the delays in the decision-making process, given the dysfunctional relationship between the owners.

Sources close to Benitez say that he is committed to staying at Anfield and that he is concerned only with ironing out the problems that he believes have made his job far more difficult than it should have been in the two years since the Hicks-Gillett takeover.