I cried when Rafa Benitez made me leave Liverpool - it's his fault my career flopped

Anthony Le Tallec has hit out at former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez and believes his career was 'fatal' after he asked to leave Anfield

Anthony Le Tallec has levelled criticism at Rafa Benitez, holding his former Liverpool boss responsible for hindering his progress. Gerard Houllier was the one who originally brought the forward and his compatriot Florent Sinama-Pongolle to Liverpool from Le Havre in 2001.

The pair remained on loan at their French club for two years before making their move to Liverpool official in the summer of 2003, both at the tender age of 18.

Le Tallec's first season at Anfield saw him make 23 appearances and score just once. Following the arrival of Benitez as manager, succeeding Houllier, he was loaned out to Saint-Etienne in the summer of 2004.

"It is abnormal for boys of their age to play so rarely. It is a true problem," he commented at the time, according to LFC History. "When I think their coach is a former coach from the national team! He is not allowed to sign them and not play them. It is a mess."

Benitez responded to Le Tallec's plea, disclosing that he had previously attempted to sign him and Pongolle while he was managing Valencia. "We tried to sign Sinama and Le Tallec for Valencia," Benitez revealed.

"My scout said that he had seen two very good players - but Liverpool paid a lot of money for them so it came to nothing.

"We knew Le Tallec was the best player in the Under-17 World Cup, and Sinama was the top scorer. There's definitely the potential there - they are both good players. They need to play at this level and then they will get more confidence."

Despite acknowledging their potential, Benitez was nonetheless unimpressed with Le Tallec's desire to leave. The striker, who was recalled by Liverpool in January 2005, expressed regret over his earlier decision to leave Anfield. "Looking back now it was the wrong decision for me to have made," he admitted.

"I should have stayed here and fought for my place. I'm young and I just wanted to play. I have taken over the number 13 shirt - hopefully it won't be unlucky for me!"

Despite making a mark with seven appearances for the Reds in the latter half of the 2004/05 season, including setting up Luis Garcia's memorable goal against Juventus in the Champions League quarter-finals, the now 39-year-old has disclosed that his request to leave Liverpool caused a rift with manager Rafael Benitez, which he feels had a detrimental impact on his career.

"For having asked Rafael Benitez to leave on loan (in July 2004)," he revealed to L'Equipe as his biggest career regret. I was stupid and he was mad at me.

"I came back from Saint-Etienne in January because there were injuries at Liverpool and, at the end of the season, Benítez said to me: ''For me, you are crazy. You were one of the three attackers, now I put you in eighth place.'" He lamented, "I was young, but he didn't want to know anything and lent me every year. I blame him. My career could have been different, but that one thing was fatal for me."

Le Tallec made his move to St-Etienne in early August 2004, around the same time it was becoming more apparent that Michael Owen might be leaving due to interest from Real Madrid. The departure of the England international left Milan Baros and Djibril Cisse as the only senior forwards for Benitez, with young players Pongolle and Neil Mellor adding depth and gaining more first team opportunities as a result.

At the time of Le Tallec's recall, Benitez had already signed Fernando Morientes from Real Madrid in a £6.3m deal in January 2005, although the Spaniard was cup-tied in the Champions League and Cisse was out with a broken leg. Le Tallec also revealed how he was reduced to tears when Benitez excluded him from the Liverpool squad for the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan.

"More like not being called up," he remembered. "In 2005, Benitez didn't include me in the squad for the Champions League final. It made me cry."

"Harry Kewell came back from injury but was injured again after 20 minutes. I was in the stands during the final, but I didn't celebrate the title in Istanbul or take part in the parade through Liverpool. I stayed at home, I was too sad."

In the summer of 2005, Benitez brought Peter Crouch into the Reds' attacking line-up in a £7m deal from Southampton, pushing Le Tallec further down the pecking order.

Before the arrival of the England international, the French player made his last two appearances for Liverpool against TNS in the Champions League qualifiers. He was then loaned to Sunderland for the 2005/06 season, which ended in relegation.

He also had loan spells back in France with Sochaux and Le Mans before a permanent move to Le Mans in the summer of 2008 for £1.1m. The 39 year old made a total of 32 appearances for the Reds, scoring once and assisting twice, but never lived up to his early potential at Anfield.

He retired in 2021 after spending most of his career in France's Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 with Auxerre, Valenciennes, Orleans, and Annecy, as well as brief stints in Greece and Romania with Atromitos and Astra Giurgiu. While Le Tallec may blame Benitez for how his career unfolded at Anfield and beyond, we'll never know how different things could have been for the former Liverpool forward if he hadn't asked the Spanish manager to let him leave the Reds in the summer of 2004.