Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admits winning the Premier League title would represent the greatest achievement of his career.
The Merseyside giants have not won England's top division since 1990 as arch-rivals Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have dominated in the subsequent 18 years.
After a false dawn last season, in which record signing Fernando Torres proved to be a spectacularly successful summer transfer, Benitez believes his team are edging closer to ending their drought.
And he considers that to be a success in the most competitive league in the world, having already won the Spanish championship twice with Valencia as well as lifting the UEFA Cup.
"Winning the title would be the biggest achievement of my career," said the Spaniard, who won the Champions League in 2005 - his first season in English football.
"It's more difficult than in Spain because teams here spend big money.
"But we will do our best. The key for me is not to talk about winning the title but to talk about doing a good job so we can be close, so we can be contenders.
"If we are close I think that we can win the title."
Having highlighted Torres as his key signing 12 months ago, Benitez's planning for next term is well under way.
He has already brought in Swiss right-back Philipp Degen on a free transfer and is close to finalising a £7million deal for Udinese left-back Andrea Dossena.
Benitez is still hoping to bolster his midfield with the addition of Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry plus a couple of other new faces.
However, the 48-year-old insists the players he is targeting must have the right attitude.
"You must do your job with your players after the season has ended and in the summertime you need to do your job with your staff," he told the club's official website.
"The key, though, is to sign the right players with the right mentality - a winning mentality - competitive players, players who are desperate to come here to win something.
"We have been analysing a lot of things this summer. For example, we were conceding a lot of goals last season from set-pieces.
"We need to know why because the previous season we only conceded six, but this year it has been 16.
"We need to know why so we can improve in these areas, but keep the team scoring goals in open play.
"We have been really good in defence for three or four years but we need to improve a little bit if we want to be in contention."
