Pepe Reina has dropped a bombshell declaring Liverpool's locker room wanted Rafa Benitez - not Brendan Rodgers - as new manager. The goalkeeper rates Benitez as "the best", and the likes of Maxi Rodriguez, Lucas and Daniel Agger would also have welcomed him back.

Reina told the Mirror: "For many of my colleagues and me, Rafa Benitez would be the ideal candidate.

"It's that I'm not objective about it, but he is the coach who shaped me most. He is the best."

Benitez still has his supporters among the Liverpool family, and Robbie Fowler claims he would have been his choice for the job.