Benitez signed a new deal through to 2014 on Wednesday, ending months of speculation over his Anfield future.

'I was never worried because I know Rafa really wanted to stay at Liverpool and we wanted him to stay,'

Mr Hicks told BBC Five Live Sport. 'We agreed the economics some time ago and I'm glad we finally got it done.'

Mr Hicks denied that the reason Benitez had taken so long to sign a new contract was that he wanted full control over the signing of players.

'Rafa was never wanting control of the transfer policy, he just wanted to make sure we had better decision-making capability and that we moved quicker than we had in the past,' Mr Hicks said.

'Rafa will make the recommendations but in English football it's very important that the chief executive should make the financial decisions not the manager.' -- REUTERS