And Benitez, after watching his side complete a 6-0 aggregate victory over brave Welsh side TNS to reach the second qualifying round of the Champions League, is able to relish the new options he has within his strike force.

He may well soon get an offer he can’t refuse for last season’s top scorer Milan Baros, but at the moment Benitez can see a much more competitive front line than last season.

“My idea is to have a team, not just one or two good players,” said Benitez. “What we have now is adaptability and the right mentality, and they are all working together.

“We now have (Anthony) Le Tallec, Luis Garcia, (Milan) Baros, (Djibril) Cisse, (Fernando) Morientes and Crouch. That is more options and you can select who you want.”

But with Crouch about to complete his £7m (€10m) move from Southampton, Benitez accepts he may soon have to handle enquiries about Baros, with the player’s agent expecting to have talks with the Liverpool manager soon.

Benitez said: “Milan is a good player, he was top scorer last season, but we have more options now and maybe some offers.

“At the moment we are working with all our strikers and Baros does have a future here. I am not preparing for anyone to go, I am working with my players.

“But if we receive any offers maybe some of them can go. It depends on the offers and it depends on the player also.”

Djibril Cisse put the Reds ahead against TNS but it wasn’t until substitute Steven Gerrard bagged his fourth and fifth goals of the tie that the Reds could really relax.

Benitez said: “We didn’t use Gerrard until the end because he had been training hard during the day, but he can still come on and change the game when you use him in the last minutes.”