Rafael Benitez aiming to leave Liverpool?
The Liverpool Football Club is currently in tatters. With players trying to make shifts all over the place, their head coach isn’t standing on a stable ground either. Rafael Benitez has faced constant offers from various European clubs including Juventus and Inter Milan after the end of the every season. Juventus have sacked their last coach while Inter’s José Mourinho has left them to avail the greener pastures of Real Madrid.
After Liverpool’s disastrous season, the team has barely made it to the FA Cup Finals along with being disqualified from the Champions League. After the disqualification from the Champions League, the world class coach will now get offers from clubs all over the world. So far Benitez has proven to have shown his loyalty to ‘the Red Devils’ along with calming down the panicked stricken players in the ranks.
Juventus is one key suspect who has presented Benitez with a contract for the next four years. The club is on the seventh position in the Serie A, which has quite a heritage and history which is quite similar to Liverpool. The Juventus management were offering £16 million for a ‘yes’ from Benitez as the Spaniard was under a lot of pressure to reply.
Presently, The Juventus deal seems to be off the hook as talk with owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have worked wonders for the Spaniard. Along with that, Benitez has had a number of meetings with Chairman Martin Broughton throughout the week. Things seem to have calmed out at Anfield. However, things have taken another sharp turn as sources confirm that Inter have made an unofficial bid for Benitez in the last few days.
Benitez has had long talks with both owners along with the chairman. However, only after Benitez received some assurances that he would be granted more power and more funds to rebuild the squad which is why the Spanish coach has decided to stay.
The Nerazzurri have just lost their ace coach in the shape of Mourinho and are desperately in need of a good replacement. Rumours also suggest that they are making a move towards the English coach Fabio Capello after the end of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
All these factors along with the recent statements by former owner of Liverpool, David Moores saying that he regrets selling the club to Gillet and Hicks might change Benitez’s mind after all. Moores, while referring to Gillet and Hicks, claimed that, “I call upon them to stand back, accept their role in the club's current demise, and stand aside with dignity”. It is said that the sale of Liverpool will take a very long time, presumably some 18 more months. Until then, there are a lot of things that are yet to unfold.
One thing is for sure - if Benitez decides to switch alliances, then other players in Liverpool will not stay far behind. Many of the leading Liverpool stars have already made statements about their conversion and are looking at offers from other clubs. The charismatic Steven Gerrard has received an initial bid of £80 million by Jose Mourinho, who is revolutionizing the Real squad.
Experts are saying that the main reason for bidding in favour of Liverpool footballers by Juventus and Inter was an attempt to show their intensity and desire for Benitez. If Benitez accepts the offer made by Inter Milan, it’s speculated that he would double his £4.5 million a year salary at Anfield.
But there is immense pressure on accepting the job too. It certainly would have been a different stage if Liverpool had a replacement in the upcoming season. But after the dismissal performances by the team, there will be pressure on Benitez if he can level up to Mourinho’s splendid campaign. The fans at San Siro are desperately waiting for the moment for the Spaniard to arrive.
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