Liverpool co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett sounded out Jurgen Klinsmann about becoming the club's next manager, a report today suggests.

Hicks claims the talks would not have resulted in the immediate dismissal of the man who led the team o Champions League glory but that Klinsmann was "an insurance policy".

Klinsmann is no longer an option, however, as he has agreed to take charge of Bayern Munich.

Hicks told the Liverpool Echo: "We attempted to negotiate an option as an insurance policy to have him (Klinsmann) become manager if Rafael left for Real Madrid or other clubs that were rumoured in the press.

"Or in case our communication spiralled out of control for some reason."

The article also claims that had Liverpool tumbled out of the Champions League, the owners would have tried to replace Benitez. But the Spaniard steered the team through with a crucial victory against Marseille in France.

Klinsmann's name has been linked with Liverpool since November.  It is believed to be the root cause of Benitez's testy media conference when he had been told to concentrate on running his team by the owners.

Under such circumstances, winning the FA Cup may be the minimal requirement to stay in his job come the summer.

Liverpool face Coca-Cola League One side Luton in a replay at Anfield tomorrow - and Benitez knows defeat is not an option.

Benitez made it clear before Hicks' dramatic public admission about Klinsmann that he intends to field a strong side.

He said: "We will approach the game with the idea of using our best players, we want to reach the next round. I know it will be a different Luton side. They have lost players now so we know it will be more difficult for them, but they will still try their hardest to win."

One player Benitez will not have at his disposal is Daniel Agger who suffered a recurrence of the metatarsal injury that has kept him out of action since Spetember.

The Spaniard told the offcial Liverpool website today: "We've had some bad news in that Agger has the same problem again. He was training and ready to play but yesterday in training he felt something, so we need to go back and start from the beginning.
 
"It's not easy to say when he will be back. He is going to see different surgeons and then we will be able to analyse the situation."

The news may mean a place in the squad for Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel who signed from Zenit St Petersburg for £6.5m last week.

PA