River Plate have come up short in their attempts to sign Sebastián Leto on a year-long loan from Liverpool, as Rafael Benitez would rather the left-sided player continued his adaption to the English game.

River had been hopeful of taking the former Lanus winger on loan for a year and contacted Liverpool two weeks ago to discuss a possible deal.

The Premiership club were initially open to discussions, but Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez decided that Leto would be better off staying in England as he would only have to adapt again if he returned to Argentina for such a period of time.

Liverpool paid £1.85 million to sign the twenty-one year old from Lanus in the summer, but he has only made four appearances so far this season in the Champions League and the Carling Cup and is yet to make his league debut,

Leto himself was said to have been keen to get some regular competitive football under his belt, but will now continue in Liverpool's reserve side as he looks to prove himself worthy of a first-team place.

As for River, they will continue their search for some cover in midfield, but could soon be adding another defender to their squad, with Colon de Santa Fe's Omar Merlo thought to be in negotiations with the Buenos Aires giants.

Don't know why Benitez wants him to stay, he will get 1 game at most this year, so his development will not continue, should have let him have first team football again!