Benitez could be coming

Premier League - Rafa Benitez 'lined up for Manchester City' - but does it make sense?

In-depth: Rafa Benitez is thought to be holding off agreeing a new deal at Napoli due to Manchester City wanting to bring him in as manager.

 



Rafa Benitez, Napoli

Former Liverpool and Chelsea manager Benitez has been a success since moving to Naples in 2013, and while his side have failed to dislodge Juventus from the summit of Serie A they won the Coppa Italia last year and are on the brink of a Europa League semi-final following their 4-1 quarter-final first leg win at Wolfsburg.
But Italy's SportMediaset reported on Tuesday that Benitez is definitely leaving at the end of the season, having rejected the opportunity of extending his contract in anticipation of an imminent offer from Manchester City.
The English side have struggled badly this season, slipping to fourth in the Premier League and are expected to dismiss manager Manuel Pellegrini when the season ends - if not before.
The Italian news outlet believes that, having been rejected by Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola, Benitez is high on the list of candidates to replace the Chilean, and the former Liverpool manager is waiting for the call.


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Rafael Benitez celebrates with the Champions League trophy in 2005
The link between City and Benitez has been reported before, not least by the Daily Mirror last week.
But Wednesday's Daily Star also reports the story, claiming to have a "source close to the Spaniard" saying that he is willing to come back and manage City - even if it is only on an interim basis as the reigning Premier League champions wait for Pep Guardiola to become available.
"He has always wanted to work in the Premier League again because he thinks it's the best place to be," the source told the paper.
"It would have to be the right offer for him and managing Manchester City appeals to him. It's something he would definitely be keen on."

MEDIA REASONING
"City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak knows Benitez, 54, has won trophies in three different countries and has vital experience of managing teams in the Champions League... Guardiola remains the board's No.1 choice to replace Pellegrini, but he revealed earlier this week that he will not be leaving the German giants at the end of this season. Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti is also on the club's shortlist of targets but there are no guarantees he will leave the Bernabeu this summer. It means the billionaires could now decide to hand Benitez a 12-month deal and the chance to take the team forward, instead of sticking with Pellegrini." - Jeremy Cross, Daily Star
"If City get any indication Guardiola would be interested in joining them in 2016 - linking up with his former Barcelona bosses Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano at the Etihad in the process - rather than staying on at Bayern they are prepared to wait and offer Benitez the chance to take charge until he arrives." - Adrian Kajumba, Daily Mirror


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Chelsea's manager Rafael Benitez holds up the trophy after his team won their Europa League Final against Benfica …

Yeah, read that this morning.

I can't make my mind up. I guess it all depends with what Pep is doing.

The thing is, if Pep agrees to 2016, then do the owners make that public and keep MP? If so, how will that effect next season and this summers transfers?

If Pep agrees and they sack MP in the summer and bring in Benitez for one year, will that once again effect transfer policies?

Why spend another £200m with a manager there for one year - either way? Unless the Directors do ALL of the buying themselves with no consultation to either manager next season.

It's all getting a bit messy and I can see them sticking with MP and seeing how the talks with Pep goes....if he says no, they can sack MP next season/or let his contract run down, no pay-off and bring in somebody else like Klopp, Ancelotti etc.

Totally agree.
Tbh blue, i can see them giving up on getting Pep altogether and going for either Benitez or Klopp....and given the choice of those 2, i'd have to go for Benitez.

Me too....I honestly think he'd be suited to Arsenal. I'd like him at City, but the lure of London, their cash available, the style of football....suits him down to the ground.

I'd have Benitez over Klopp...purely for the fact he knows the PL and has done well in Europe.

all I can say is I will still support city regardless I don't want Benitez

blueboy wrote:Me too....I honestly think he'd be suited to Arsenal. I'd like him at City, but the lure of London, their cash available, the style of football....suits him down to the ground.

There is that, but then there's the fact he's still got a house in Cheshire and, the last time he worked in London, they made his life a bit of a trial.

skyblueoz wrote:all I can say is I will still support city regardless I don't want Benitez

That's what the Chelsea fans said, even when he was holding aloft a European trophy that they were never on course to win before he went there.

Personally, I don't see the harm.  In fact, I can see a massive slice of good. What is the ONE common thing that top footballers cite as their biggest aim?  It's not making a massive wedge of cash or playing in Spain or even winning domestic titles.  It's playing in the CL.  And with Benitez, we should be able to get quite a long way in the competition, raising our profile in the VERY circle that opens us up to players wanting to come here, rather than having to go fishing in Portugal.

If we want the big names to come knocking on our door, we need to appeal to them and we're not going to do that by winning domestic titles and failing in Europe.  We need the CL to be our major focus, at least until we can get them coming to us.  And once we're in, we might even start getting the benefit of UEFA's warmed balls... 

Oh, right... Must've misread something somewhere...

still don't want  benitez, just cannot seem to get motivated by the thought of him coming. a lot of Chelsea fans did not want him because of past history between them. I have nothing against him in that vain, I just think that we could do a lot better.If he did come who then would be in charge of transfers being that it would only be a season long contract?