With two players heading out of Anfield, and another on the brink of signing, the Liverpool manager remains coy on just how much money he will have to spend in this current transfer window.

The belief remains he will have only limited funds to add to his squad with the likelihood there will be greater spending in the summer.

Full-back Andrea Dossena has completed a £4.5million move to Napoli, while striker Andriy Voronin is on the verge of a deal that will take him to Dynamo Moscow for £2million.

Benitez maintains he will not be selling winger Ryan Babel, but is awaiting confirmation that his deal to bring Argentina wide man Maxi Rodriguez to the club from Atletico Madrid can be tied up.

All this was going on today while Liverpool were making a request to the Premier League to have Sunday's visit of Spurs to Merseyside called off.

A club spokesman said: "Although the Anfield pitch is perfectly playable for the game, the problem we face is the icy condition of the approach roads and paths in the immediate vicinity of the stadium.

"The safety of our fans is paramount and an assessment of both the prevailing conditions and the weather forecast for the next 48 hours has been made in arriving at the decision to call off the match. Both local police and the City Council were fully involved in this assessment."

Existing tickets will be valid for the rescheduled game and the club will also give refunds.

On the transfer front, Benitez will use some of the money from the Dossena and Voronin deals to pay for new contracts for Jose Reina and Javier Mascherano.

But he clearly does not want to sell Babel if the money from that deal will be stockpiled for a summer spree in the transfer market.

Benitez wants to retain Babel for Liverpool's fight for fourth spot which would ensure a return to Champions League football next season.

He said: "Sometimes you must do what you have to do. So now we find ourselves having to react in this way in a transfer window.

"We must manage the squad and if we sell players we could have money available. But we must always think of what is the best for the club, at this moment in time.

"We are planning ahead, but the most important thing is now. We believe we can progress. We have enough confidence. We did well last season with this squad and we can do it again."

Benitez explained his reasons for selling Dossena and Voronin, and for turning down a £9million bid from Birmingham for Babel.

He said: "Dossena wanted to play again in Italy. The move is good for him and good for us, and hopefully he will now go to the World Cup.

"When he arrived here we were trying to sign offensive players, particularly full-backs. Similarly we signed Philipp Degen.

"It is difficult to sign wingers, the best can cost £20-25million. But it is cheaper to sign attacking full-backs, and that was the idea to improve our attacking style.

"We wanted full-backs going forward. Dossena had some good games, but he could not perform regularly at the level we needed. This is now the best for him and the best for us.

"We needed to do something with regard to Dossena and Voronin. We were not using them much and we had some offers for them.

"They both wanted to play every week, we had little option but to let them go.

"Ryan (Babel) is different. We had an offer from Birmingham but he said he wanted to stay. That means we must keep working with the players we have here, the most important thing is to push them and hopefully see the best of them.

"You have to listen to offers, it is the way of football. But he said he did not want to go, and if Babel plays at the level we know he can play at, we will be pleased.

"We have to train with the players we have, push them and make sure they are ready. That will apply to Babel."

Benitez will now wait for movement on the Rodriguez deal. He said: "Rodriguez is an experienced player, a good international and he scores goals. The deal was almost done, but then there was a problem between the player and Atletico Madrid. So he is still, at the moment, their player."