Liverpool Transfer News: Pepe Reina Will Not Return From Loan
Daily Star. The 30-year-old's Anfield career appears to be over after it was revealed he will instead re-join boyhood club Barcelona when his 12-month stint in Italy comes to a close. Paperwork is being organised to ensure he doesn't have to return to Merseyside and instead take him to the Nou Camp with sources close to the player claiming he will definitely not return to the Reds. Reina is still fuming at the way his loan move to Napoli was orchestrated and claims Liverpool went behind his back. He will re-join former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez at the Stadio San Paolo until next summer, at which point he intends to go back to Barca, where his career first started. A product of the Spanish champion's famed youth academy La Masia, Reina joined the Catalan club in 1988 and later broke into the senior set-up, making 30 appearances between 2000-02. He was then sold to Villarreal before ending up at Liverpool, where he established himself as No.1, making close to 400 appearances throughout an eight-year spell. But the Reds bought Simon Mignolet from Sunderland this summer and it appears as though Reina no longer factors into the club's long-term plans.