Former Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy regrets his first Liverpool stint under Rafa Benitez
Former Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy has admitted he regretted not listening to Mark Hughes’ advice when joining the Reds in 2006 after the Man United legend warned him he wouldn’t enjoy playing there.
Bellamy completed a £6m move to his boyhood club from Blackburn in 2006 after becoming a Reds fan growing up. However, his short first stint in Red was a largely forgettable one.
In an interview with the YouTube channel The Overlap (h/t Liverpool Echo), Bellamy revealed that then-Blackburn boss Hughes, a Manchester United great, told him that Liverpool’s rigid style under Rafa Benitez wouldn’t suit him.
“He said something that was very interesting; ‘I know who you are, I know how Liverpool play and I know this is not a good move for you’. He said I wouldn’t enjoy it. I really didn’t – very rigid,”
Bellamy spent just one season at Anfield before being sold by Benitez, never fully settling under the Spanish manager. In hindsight, the former Wales international admits Hughes was right and he should have heeded his advice.
“I spoke to Mark Hughes who was not that happy for me – he said something that was very interesting; ‘I know who you are, I know how Liverpool play and I know this is not a good move for you’. He said I wouldn’t enjoy it. I really didn’t – very rigid,”
Having grown up idolising Liverpool, Bellamy followed his heart rather than Hughes’ head in pushing through a move to Merseyside. But the striker now feels he would have been better served staying at Blackburn where his skillset was maximised.
Bellamy’s reflections indicate he privately knew even then that Hughes’ frank words made sense regarding Liverpool’s incompatibility with his style. He did, however, have a standout moment when he scored the winner at the Camp Nou vs Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 clash.
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In the end, the short-lived switch failed to live up to his expectations, just as the United great predicted. However, there was redemption at the end of the tunnel as Bellamy eventually returned to Liverpool in 2011. He spent one season under Kenny Dalglish, leading the club to the League Cup win and a second-place finish in the FA Cup.
In the end, one can claim that while his spell was full of regrets, the second one would have had little of it.
