Rafael Benitez wants Liverpool's new owners to urgently fulfil a £100 million promise to back their manager in the transfer market. Since their £450 million buyout of the Anfield outfit in February, George Gillett and Tom Hicks have made all the right noises about restoring Liverpool to the pinnacle of the English game.
But, in the aftermath of the Champions League final defeat to AC Milan, the Spaniard has laid bare the stark reality of the situation Liverpool find themselves in. Benitez wants money, lots of it - and he wants it now.
"Sometimes, when you are in another country or another continent, you don't know how important this time is," he said. "The owners have said they will back me and we are really excited about the future. But it is okay to talk, we need to change things now.
"The top sides have been spending £50 million or more over the last five or 10 years. Manchester United just won the league and finished 21 points in front of us. They are paying £20 million for a new midfield player in Owen Hargreaves. We have been spending £9 million on a striker. That is a big difference.
"We cannot reduce the gap if we spend almost the same amount, or do almost the same things. If people think it is enough, fine - but next season all we will be fighting for is to get into the top four."
The 47-year-old may appear jovial and relaxed but underneath the pleasant exterior beats the heart of an ultra-ambitious man who quit Valencia for Liverpool three years ago because the Spanish outfit refused to meet his demands and has already rejected overtures from his beloved Real Madrid three times.
On his arrival at Anfield, Benitez famously declared he asked the Valencia board for a coffee table and was given a table lamp instead. And he has still not forgotten.
"We won the league with Valencia for the first time in 31 years," he recalled. "Afterwards, everyone said 'fantastic, we are so good we do not need to spend any money'. The following season we finished fifth.
"With Liverpool, we have won the FA Cup, the Super Cup, the Community Shield and the Champions League and reached another final.
"But if we do not spend money now, we will continue to lose games because we do not have enough quality and eventually finish 20 points behind United, Chelsea and Arsenal."
With Boudewijn Zenden, Mark Gonzalez and - possibly - Craig Bellamy among those on their way out, the decks are being cleared for a huge influx of new players.
The number of potential signings is wide-ranging. The defence and midfield will be tinkered with, while at least two new strikers can be expected given Liverpool's season-long difficulties in front of goal, which proved so costly in the Olympic Stadium.
David Villa, Samuel Eto'o, Darren Bent and Carlos Tevez could all appear on Benitez's radar.
Clearly though, business needs to be done swiftly if the Spaniard's demands are to be satisfied and Gillett and Hicks are to ensure Liverpool's new stadium in Stanley Park is not to become a huge white elephant by the time it opens in 2009.
"I can't say exactly how many players I want, it depends on the market," said Benitez. "Also, there might be someone we don't really want to sell who we get a fantastic bid for which makes us look at the situation again.
"We have some targets but we must move quickly because if we end up with our second or third choices, we cannot be contenders.
"The new owners know what my ideas are and they know what is required. They are businessmen. It is clear when you spend £250 million on a stadium, you need to keep the team in the top four and try to be contenders every season before 2009.
"It is not difficult. They want to see their stadium full of supporters. And the supporters know the club needs to progress.
"If we do the right things, they will be there."
