The Spaniard's comments will hardly endear him any more to fans who already loathe him.

"Everyone knows the legends have been here and what they have achieved but you have to see new players coming in. It's part of life," Benitez explained.

"You have to think about the future and move forward, bring in new players and try, at the same time, to bring the best out of those you have. You have to use their experience, too.

"I can see the club is changing things for the future, thinking about being successful again. It's not just: 'Oh, we won [the Champions League] and that's it.' You have to keep winning and evolving as much as you can. That means you have to keep bringing in good new players."