Carson's ready for the Premiership - Benitez

Feb 10 2005

By Andy Hunter, Daily Post

RAFAEL BENITEZ admits he would have no hesitation throwing Scott Carson into Premiership action after calling off his goalkeeping search due to the youngster's immediate impact at Anfield.

The Liverpool manager beat off competition from league leaders Chelsea to land the highly-rated teenager on a £750,000 deal from Leeds last month.

Benitez, however, was also keen to bring more experienced competition to Liverpool with doubts existing over both Jerzy Dudek and Chris Kirkland's long-term futures at the club.

Spanish internationals Santiago Canizares of Valencia and Real Madrid's second choice stopper Cesar were both linked with a January switch to Merseyside.

But 19-year-old Carson has made such an impressive start to his Liverpool career that Benitez has halted his transfer hunt. And he has indicated the Whitehaven-born keeper could even claim a first team chance before the end of this season.

Benitez revealed: "When we were looking for a new goalkeeper I said we wanted either a young or experienced goalkeeper. We always wanted Carson, but I said we were after experience because we were talking to Leeds and we didn't want the price to go even higher!

"When I spoke to the player after we had spoken to Leeds I told him he would come in as the second goalkeeper because of the injury to Chris. But I also said that if we saw he had a good enough level to come into the team then the rest was up to him.

"After just two training sessions we knew we had a good goalkeeper and now we are sure he will be a very good goalkeeper for the future. We were still considering signing another goalkeeper at one point but we decided not to because we are so happy with Scott."

Carson made a rare competitive appearance on Tuesday night in England's under-21 defeat by Holland at Pride Park.

But despite a making only three Premiership appearances for Leeds, against Middlesbrough, Chelsea and Manchester United, Benitez admits his first English signing is ready to step into the Liverpool side if required.

The Liverpool manager added: "We knew he was a good goalkeeper but it was hard to say how good he was. We had seen a few videos of him but he only made two or three saves in each match. We knew we would have to wait until we saw him train before we could judge him properly, but now we are sure he is a very good goalkeeper.

"After only a few training sessions Jose Ochotorena (Liverpool's goalkeeping coach) said he has a lot of talent and that we didn't need another goalkeeper.

"As a person and as a professional he is impressive. We have a lot of confidence in him and I would have no problem playing him in the Premier League this season."