Rafa Benitez names two world-class players Liverpool tried to sign before they joined Premier League rivals

Liverpool missed out on signing two players who would go on to become Premier League greats as they "couldn’t compete" with the likes of Manchester United, according to Rafael Benitez.

Benitez appeared on the latest episode of Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet, to discuss 'the most topical and memorable moments' throughout his impressive managerial career.

As well as discussing the half-time team talk when Liverpool were 3-0 down to AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final, the Spaniard opened up about wanting to manage in the Premier League again.

He also spoke about not being able to compete in the transfer market throughout his six-year spell at Anfield.

“Under Tom Hicks and George Gillett, I wanted to sign [Stevan] Jovetić and he was £16 million," he said.

"In my head, I was selling players and had £34 million, but was told that we don’t have money. We went to play against Fiorentina and lost 2-0 – Jovetić scored both goals. I said that this was the player we wanted to sign but we didn’t have money."

Benitez went on to name Gareth Bale and Nemanja Vidic as two players they missed out on.

He added: “I wanted to sign Aaron Ramsey when he was playing for Cardiff City, and we made an offer of £1.5 million but Cardiff were playing in the FA Cup and wanted us to wait, but I told them that we had to do it, he was 17 years-old. When we went again to try and sign him, Arsene Wenger paid £5 million, and we couldn’t sign him.

“Gareth Bale, when he was 17 at Southampton, six months after we were watching him, Tottenham paid £8 million, and we couldn’t compete.”

Benitez continued: “To replace these kinds of things you need money and say, ‘I’m looking for a player that has this and so and so.’

"I was talking to [Nemanja] Vidic before he signed for Manchester United, and I knew 100% that he was not coming for us. When I was talking to him, I had to talk through his girlfriend because of English. She said, ‘I like the cities Manchester and Liverpool.’ I knew right away, why else is he talking about Manchester.

"So, I knew they were making a bigger offer than us. Therefore, we didn’t have the money to buy players, and we didn’t have the money to pay players either. The new owners were lucky because we sold Torres for £50 million, then Luis Suárez and Phillipe Coutinho. So, they had money to spend around that time.

"You must spend a lot of money like Chelsea and Manchester City - they just spend."

He added: "For Liverpool, it was very difficult because the families of the players preferred to stay in London because of the airport, as well as Manchester. Liverpool was the third choice because of the size of the city, and they like to go shopping in London, I heard one wife talk to another wife.

“You also cannot pay the salaries. In terms of the city, I love Liverpool but if you go to London there’s the wives, families and all the people. Liverpool were also not winning trophies. Manchester was winning trophies; Chelsea was winning trophies and even Arsenal was winning trophies. So, it was very difficult - you have to convince players.”