Jerzy Dudek has revealed he considered thumping Rafa Benitez in order to get a move out of Liverpool.

Speaking to FourFourTwo magazine, the Pole spoke of his reaction to the Kop boss snapping up Pepe Reina after the 2005 Champions League success when Dudek was the penalty hero.

He said, "I told Rafa that the World Cup was on the horizon and I needed to be playing football. Köln were interested, but a few days before the window closed, they called and said, 'Why is Rafa not even talking to us?' I was surprised – I thought everything had been agreed.

"The next day, I stormed up to him after training. He said, 'They only offered a loan deal, and you're too important for us. They want to give us £800,000, but what if Reina gets an injury? I can't put £800,000 in a suitcase and put it between the goalposts.'

"Then I had this crazy thought – 'I think I'll just punch him in the face'. This evil whisper in my head was telling me that if I hit Rafa, they'd let me go to Köln."