LIVERPOOL, England — The sought-after Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has given his strongest indication that he will stay with the EPL soccer side next season, Sky Sports reported Wednesday.
The Spaniard’s future has been the subject of conjecture after Liverpool’s indifferent campaign. Reina previously hinted he could be forced to leave the club if it was not competing for titles on a consistent basis.
However, Reina has been encouraged by the progress of the side under interim manager Kenny Dalglish and he believes the club’s American owners, the Fenway Sports Group, will make money available to bolster the squad this summer.
“I am happy, calm and comfortable here,” Reina told the Spanish radio station Cadena Cope. “[I am] looking toward the future which I reckon will bring a lot of happiness and hopefully the new project with the new American owners will be a convincing one.”
He said, “It’s my understanding, and based on what I’ve gathered from the people here, that we will be bringing in some important players, continuing to grow and hopefully in one or two years we will be in the place that Liverpool deserves to be, which is fighting for titles.”
Reina has been mentioned as a possible target for Liverpool’s bitter rival Manchester United, which is seeking to replace the retiring Dutchman Edwin Van der Sar, but the former Barcelona and Villarreal keeper insisted he has no plans to move to Old Trafford.
“I am not going to Manchester, that is not my intention,” Reina said. “I don’t know if I am a candidate for them; I am sure that they have evaluated a lot of goalkeepers, not just [Athletico Madrid’s David] De Gea or Reina.”
