Rafa Benitez
Rafa Benitez is keen to be reunited with Lucas and Martin Skrtel at Napoli. [Reuters]

Rafa Benitez is keen to be reunited with Lucas Leiva and Martin Skrtel as he looks to convince the Liverpool duo to join him at Napoli in the January transfer window.

The former Reds boss has already succeeded in bringing Pepe Reina to Naples on a season-long loan but it appears as though he is now turning his attention to two more players he knows extremely well from his time at Anfield.

Benitez signed both Lucas and Skrtel for Liverpool and were firm favourites with the Spanish boss during his stay at the club.

While Lucas has remained in favour under Brendan Rodgers, Skrtel was dropped for much of last season and is having to contend with a host of new signings for a place in the back four in the current campaign.

The Slovakian was heavily linked with a move away from Merseyside over the course of the summer and has since seen Rodgers sign three new centre-backs in Tiago Ilori, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho.

Nevertheless the Slovakian has been singled out for praise by Rodgers but reports in Italy suggest Benitez will make a firm offer in January.

The reports in Tuttosport also claim that Napoli sporting director Riccardo Bigion will attempt to negotiate a deal for Lucas who has started all six Premier League games for Liverpool this season.

Napoli may well face a tough task in convincing Liverpool to part with the Brazil international but Rodgers will have high hopes that Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson could perhaps fill the void if an acceptable offer was made.

The Italian club may well stand a better chance of convincing both players to leave Liverpool if they have slipped out of the top four come January and Napoli are still pushing for a first league title in some 24 years.

Liverpool will certainly be under no pressure to sell either player as Skrtel signed a new long-term contract in August 2012, while Lucas only put pen to paper on an extended deal in April of this year.