While intimating in-demand Villa is out of Liverpool's reach, Benitez did reveal that Liverpool were in talks with Premier League rivals Tottenham about signing Keane.
"I said the other day that he is one of the names we had on our list, but I can say at this moment that it is not an option for us," he told his official club website.
"We know Villa is a very good player, we know the price and we know the players we have, so when you consider everything we decided he was one of the names, but at this moment, not our target.
"Keane is one of the other names and okay we are still working with other names. We were in contact and we will see now."




