Rafael Benitez on Tuesday defended the sale of Robbie Keane back to Tottenham, claiming the forward had failed to prove himself at Anfield and left the club with no option but to "cut our losses".

Keane returned to Spurs on Monday, leaving Liverpool, who paid 20 million pounds ($29 million) to sign him last summer, nursing a loss that Benitez admitted would be over three million pounds.

Benitez's decision to offload the forward has provoked some disquiet among Liverpool fans who fear that his failure to bring in a replacement striker could undermine the club's ability to challenge champions Manchester United for the Premier League title.

There is also a widespread suspicion that Keane was a victim of the manager's dispute with the club hierarchy over transfer policy.

Benitez is refusing to sign a new contract unless he is given control of the buying and selling of players and said last week that the decision to buy Keane had been the board room's rather than his.

The Spaniard insisted however that the decision to sell was purely business: Keane was not performing on the pitch and Tottenham were prepared to pay top dollar to get him back to help their battle for survival.

"He is 28, and if he was not playing the situation and the fee in the summer could have been worse," Benitez argued.

"We had to do it now. Later would have been worse for him and worse for us. If you know something is not working you must find a solution right now."

Benitez could have taken Jermaine Jenas, Gareth Bale or David Bentley to Anfield in part exchange for Keane but Spurs baulked at releasing the one player Liverpool were interested in, Aaron Lennon.

"They were asking and pushing because they are in a bad position and they believe Robbie can be a fantastic player for them," Benitez said.

Keane has maintained a dignified silence over the way he was treated at Anfield but it would be astonishing if he did not feel slightly aggrieved.

The Irishman's confidence appeared to be affected by Benitez's habit of substituting him (18 times in 28 appearances) and when he appeared to have finally hit some form, with three goals in two games over Christmas, he was promptly sent back to the bench.

But Benitez insisted that the forward had had enough chances to prove himself and suggested that he may have been overwhelmed by the pressure of expectation at Liverpool.

"He has played a lot of games, people talk of the amount of substitutions but he started over 20 games for us this season," Benitez said.

"Clearly he was not playing at the level he can. You can keep talking and talking, but it is on the pitch that you have to show your quality.

"In the end we were talking about him before and after every game."

Benitez added: "Liverpool is a different type of club, the expectation on him was high and everyone was talking about a partnership with Torres, maybe he had more pressure and it was more difficult for him to perform at the level he can achieve.

"We needed to cut our losses because it would be harder in the future if this situation had continued."

Keane's departure leaves the injury-prone Torres as the only experienced, out-and-out striker on the club's staff.

Benitez can also call on Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt, although the Dutch pair have been used as wide players far more often than as central strikers, and David Ngog, the promising but inexperienced young French forward.

(AFP via China Daily Feburary 5, 2009)