ALONSO ASKS TO LEAVE ANFIELD

Xabi Alonso's Liverpool career appeared to be coming towards an end as he arrived for training on Thursday.

The midfielder expects to hold talks with manager Rafael Benitez as Real Madrid are believed to be preparing a new, improved, bid for the 28 year-old.

And a club source has now confirmed that Alonso has submitted a transfer request, with the Spanish player having previously only told Benitez verbally that he wanted to leave the club.

Now if Madrid produce an offer of at least £28million, the chances are that Benitez will agree to sell the man he signed from Real Sociedad for £10million in August 2004.

Alonso flew back from Spain on Thursday, having spent three days with his family in San Sebastian, determined to end a summer-long saga.

Benitez has defiantly refused to let Alonso leave, and Real's only official bid of £24million was rejected. But a formal transfer request changes the situation.

Since that first bid, both parties have been engaged in a war of words over the deal, with Real president Florentino Perez maintaining that Liverpool's valuation was much too high.

Benitez had talks with Alonso during Liverpool's Far East tour last week, and tried to convince the player to stay, underlining the fans' delirious response to the player in Bangkok and Singapore as a reason to think again.

But on Liverpool's return to the UK, Benitez told Alonso that he wanted the uncertainty around the player's future to be sorted out before the weekend, one way or another.

Now the deadlock looks like being broken, just 24 hours after the two clubs agreed a £3.5million fee for Anfield full-back Alvaro Arbeloa to move to Real.

By the time that the Alonso fee is in Liverpool's coffers, and also £4million for Andrea Dossena's move to Napoli, Benitez will have around £40m to spend on the transfer market.

Benitez has already raised around £8million from the sales of Arbeloa, Sebastian Leto, Jack Hobbs and Paul Anderson.

He has been linked with Wigan midfielder Lee Cattermole, Hull defender Michael Turner, Valencia's David Silva and Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani.

Benitez is aware that the new Premier League season is little more than a fortnight away, and he needs to move quickly to find a replacement for Alonso otherwise the club's preparation for the campaign will be disrupted.

Arbeloa's move to the Bernabeu has been conducted with far less rancour.

The player passed a medical on Wednesday and has now signed a five-year contract.

He said of his time at Anfield: "Liverpool are a club with an impressive history, with lots of success.

"In England they are the team with the most titles, so I've already experienced that pressure and I hope that will help me now with this challenge, which is clearly the biggest in my career.

"I think I have become a better footballer and also matured. When you play at a club like Liverpool you have the chance to play with great players, I've also been called up by Spain and we've won the European Championships, so in these years I have learned a huge amount.

"It has made me a much better player and I hope to be able to show it, which in the end is the important thing."

The transfer will see Arbeloa rejoin the club where he began his professional career after Real plucked him from Real Zaragoza's youth set-up.

However, the full-back was restricted to just two senior run-outs during his first spell at the Bernabeu and he is determined to improve on that figure this time around.

He added: "My objective is to give it everything in training and try to win myself a place in the team, which is the objective of any player.

"And of course I want to help my team-mates and the team to win titles, which in the end is what counts."

F. TORRES WANTS ALONSO TO STAY

Striker Fernando Torres has insisted it would be "a serious loss to Liverpool" if Xabi Alonso completed a move to Real Madrid.

The Spanish giants' pursuit of the Liverpool midfielder is set to come to a head with Reds manager Rafael Benitez keen for the Spain international's future to be cleared up before his squad reassemble on Thursday following a three-day break.

It is believed Benitez has threatened to pull the plug on negotiations if Madrid do not meet his £30million valuation of the player before the weekend - and Torres is hoping his compatriot stays with the club.

The striker told The Sun: "It would be a bad piece of work if Xabi left - he plays his cards close to his chest so I don't know what is going to happen.

"I'd put Xabi's own wishes ahead of everything else, of course, but he's got three years left on his contract with us and I'd love it if he stays.

"It would be a serious loss for Liverpool if he left this summer."

Torres' views are in stark contrast to former Reds goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, who has claimed a move to Real Madrid would represent a "dream come true" for Alonso.

Dudek, now the back-up goalkeeper to Iker Casillas at the Bernabeu, said: "He is Spanish and all the Spanish guys want to play for Real Madrid.

"This is a dream come true for them and Xabi knows that he's not the only one."

DUDEK SAYS ALONSO HAS REAL DESIRE

Jerzy Dudek claims a move to Real Madrid would represent a "dream come true" for Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Madrid's pursuit of Alonso is set to come to a head this week with Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez keen for the Spain international's future to be cleared up before his squad re-assembles on Thursday following a three-day break.

It is believed Benitez has threatened to pull the plug on negotiations if Madrid do not meet his £30m valuation of the player before the weekend, and Dudek, now the back-up goalkeeper to Iker Casillas at the Bernabeu, admits the Anfield boss holds all the cards in the prolonged transfer saga.

"I spoke to him [Alonso] just before the holidays," former Liverpool favourite Dudek revealed in an interview with goal.com.

"He is a very nice lad and he knows what is the best for him. But he cannot do anything without Benitez.

"So I don't know (what will happen), but he is a good player without question, one of the best midfielders in the world.

"He is Spanish and all the Spanish guys want to play for Real Madrid. This is a dream come true for them and Xabi knows that he's not the only one."

Alonso, who has not handed in a formal transfer request at Anfield, travelled with his Liverpool team-mates on the club's tour of the Far East last week but speculation over his future intensified yesterday when he was photographed at Madrid airport.

As it transpired, Alonso had arrived in Spain from Singapore in the morning before heading to Madrid for an internal flight to spend time with his wife and family at his home in San Sebastian.

While Alonso's absence from Liverpool was viewed as a sign of his impending departure by some, it later emerged that all of Liverpool's players had been given three days off after returning from the Far East.

The squad is due back at Melwood on Thursday, when they will begin preparations for Sunday's trip to play Espanyol in a friendly at the Barcelona-based club's new stadium.

One player unlikely to make that trip is full-back Alvaro Arbeloa, who is in the last season of his Liverpool contract and on the brink of a £4million transfer to Madrid.

Arbeloa said: "It is true that the deal is close to being completed.

"We'll see what happens in the next few days, if we can all make an effort so the negotiations come to a good end, and we all come out having benefited, which is what everyone wants.

"Everything is going forwards and everyone is in agreement. I am the one who has the most desire to sign for Madrid.

"It's a question more for the clubs. But, as I understand, it seems everything is going well and there is little left to resolve. It could all be sealed this week."

PEREZ WANTS REAL DEPARTURES

Florentino Perez has admitted Real Madrid's squad is now too large and is looking to sell players before making any more signings.

Club president Perez has funded an incredible spending spree this summer, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema all arriving at the Bernabeu.

Real have been linked with other new arrivals, including Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, but Perez is more concerned about reducing numbers now the squad has crept above the Spanish limit of 25 players.

"I will not speak about specific players. We made strategic signings very quickly and that meant that we suddenly had a huge number of players with 29 here," Perez told AS.

"We are trying to find other teams for those players who will not play a lot for us, but we have not yet managed to do that.

"For any more players to come then some will have to leave. It is not a problem of money, it is the fact that we can only have 25."

Real's main rivals Barcelona have responded this week with a major signing of their own, having brought in Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan.

Perez insists he is excited by the transfer rather than intimidated, saying: "It is good for Madrid if great players join the league and Ibrahimovic is one of those.

"It is close to what we paid for Kaka and Cristiano, but I am not offended by the critics.

"That Ibrahimovic has joined is good for the league because that means that the best in the world will play here. I want to congratulate Barcelona because he will be good for them both on the sporting side and the profit side."

BIG WIN FOR LIVERPOOL

Young Hungarian striker Krisztian Nemeth scored twice and Xabi Alonso made his first pre-season appearance as Liverpool beat Singapore 5-0 at the National Stadium.

Seeking their first pre-season victory after draws with Thailand and Swiss side St Gallen and a 1-0 loss to Rapid Vienna, the Reds gave a disjointed appearance in the first half but took the lead with the final kick before half-time when Andriy Voronin's long-range effort found the net.

Albert Riera extended the advantage early in the second half before Nemeth struck twice in the final 17 minutes with a Fernando Torres effort wedged in between.

BENITEZ QUIET ON ALONSO'S FUTURE

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez remained tight-lipped when quizzed on whether his side's 5-0 victory over Singapore on Sunday represented Xabi Alonso's last appearance for the Reds.

The Spain international, publicly courted by Real Madrid all summer, came on for the final 13 minutes for his first pre-season appearance.

Benitez has repeatedly stated his intent to keep Alonso at Anfield but when asked if the player would still be in England next season, he felt the question would be better directed at the 27-year-old.

"It's a question that you have to ask him," he said.

"Honestly, we've been talking about this for two months but I think that it is a question for him and not for us.

"He has three years on his contract and we know he is a great player - that's why we signed him and renewed his contract. So you have to ask him."