Transfer news: Pepe Reina reveals it was not his decision to leave Liverpool and claims 'I deserved better' after joining Napoli

Goalkeeper claims the move had been agreed before the club consulted him despite his desire to stay and fight for his place

Pepe Reina (GETTY IMAGES)

Pepe Reina made his sadness at his Liverpool departure clear today with a strongly-worded letter on his website.

The Spanish goalkeeper is going to Napoli on a season’s long loan and while the overall tone of the letter was positive, he insisted that “it was not my decision to leave”, that he was surprised to be going and that he thought he deserved to be consulted on the move.

“But if I have one regret, it is the way that I am leaving,” he wrote on pepereina25.com. “It is only natural that I would be disappointed that the Liverpool management agreed to loan me to Napoli without telling me first, I thought that I deserved better than that even though I understand that difficult decisions have to be taken in football.”

While Reina admitted an interest in returning to Barcelona, his first club, he said that he had not asked to go anywhere else.

“I told the manager that I wanted to play for Liverpool and that Barcelona would only become an option for me if the opportunity arrived, like the rumours said it would, as it would be a chance for me to go back home. When it didn’t come I was happy to fight for my place so I was surprised that Liverpool decided it was in the club´s interests to send me to Napoli instead.”

Reina did say that he relished the challenge at Napoli, where he will be reunited with Rafael Benitez, who brought him to Liverpool in 2005 and oversaw his first five seasons at Anfield. Reina hailed Benitez as the best manager he had ever played under, ahead of Kenny Dalglish, Manuel Pellegrini, Roy Hodgson and Brendan Rodgers.

“Now I have to look forward to a new challenge with Rafa Benitez, who I consider to be the best manager I have worked with, and I am fortunate to be going from one great club to another.”

Reina said that he is impressed by the club’s ambition, and Napoli must be considered strong contenders for Serie A and even the Champions League now following the arrivals of Reina, Gonzalo Higuain, Dries Mertens, Raul Albiol and Jose Maria Callejon.

“Napoli remind me in many ways of the Liverpool I found in 2005, in all the affection they have shown me on my arrival, in having an ambitious project, even in coinciding and working with Benitez again.”

Reina’s memories of Liverpool – where he won the 2006 FA Cup and was runner-up in the 2007 Champions League – were happy though.

“It is a strange feeling for me to think that next season I will not be a Liverpool player. For the past eight years, that is all I have known. The club, the staff, the city, the people and the supporters have played a massive part in my life. 

"It has given me an understanding of what it is like to play for the most wonderful English club. I may not have won as many trophies and medals as I would have liked since joining in 2005 but the experiences I have been a part of are as important as any silverware.”