Rafael Benitez has declined to apologise to Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy in the worsening row between Liverpool and the London club over the Djibril Cisse-Jermain Defoe saga.
The Liverpool boss claimed on Friday Spurs were “desperate” to sell Defoe, an accusation Levy immediately refuted, claiming he found Benitez's comments beyond belief.
Levy added: “Not only are they completely untrue but it is unprecedented that any manager should comment in this way on another team's player. It could be interpreted as a direct and blatant attempt to unsettle Jermain.”
But after watching Liverpool's 3-1 Mersey derby victory over Everton, Benitez was unrepentant and accused Levy of being “unprofessional.”
The row has erupted because Liverpool claim Defoe has been offered to them and that Cisse has been linked in a swap deal, as well as a similar situation involving Manchester United's Louis Saha.
Now Benitez has declined to apologise and said: “The problem is that the Tottenham chairman is not professional, but I am professional. If you read in the papers last month you can see who first started talking about Cisse, who started talking about Defoe and Saha.
“The problem is I have a good memory and he cannot remember when he talks with agents about these things. But I can remember and I have talked to agents and they tell me what has been said. He talks with the agents and afterwards he cannot remember, but I remember because I am professional and he is not professional.
“I talk with agents and they tell me a lot of things, but he cannot remember what was said. He must think about what he said to agents. That is all I want to say, it is very clear.”
