Strong rumors are currently circulating that Rafa Benitez has been sacked as Inter Milan coach. The Spaniard had only been in charge of the club since the summer, but a string of disappointing results in the league and Europe led to his demise.
Posts tagged Rafa Benitez
Mascherano Wants Out of Liverpool
Argentina captain Javier Mascherano returned to Liverpool training yesterday and announced his desire to leave Anfield after 3 years at the club.
Mascherano, who has made 138 appearances for the Red’s since signing from West Ham in 2007, is desperate to join former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez at Italian club Inter Milan. Mascherano had a close relationship with before the Spaniard swapped Anfield for the San Siro in June.
New Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has said although the Argentine midfielder wants a move away from Anfield, he expects Mascherano to honour his remaining two years contract with the club until such time as the club agree a fee for the player.
Inter are said to be ready to offer midfielder Sulley Muntari as part of the deal to sign Mascherano, however Liverpool look set to decline the offer and instead look to sign West Ham midfielder Scott Parker instead.
Benitez Given Golden Handshake to Leave Anfield
After spending six years at the helm of Liverpool Football Club and after many boardroom tussles with American co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, Benitez has finally been shown the door at Anfield.
His golden handshake was £6m, despite him having agreed a 5 year contract in March of last year. The final straw was Liverpool’s abysmal Premier League finish of 7th, their worst finish since the Premier League was introduced.
After a Fairytale start to his Liverpool managerial career where he won the Champions League in 2005 in his first year in charge. It all went wrong after that, with only a Super Cup and F.A Cup the year after to show for his six years in charge,most clubs would be happy with that, but not a big club like Liverpool.
So where now for the Anfield Club, Martin O’ Neill, Roy Hodgeson and Kenny Dalglish are the front runners with the latter taking control of first team duties until a permanent replacement for Benitez in place.
Roy Hodgson looks the most likely predecessor after guiding Fulham to the Europa Cup Final last season, losing to Atl.Madrid who beat Liverpool in the Semi- Finals. While Martin O’Neill might be wiser to stay at Villa Park after his team finished above Liverpool this season.
Whoever takes over will have to assemble a team on a shoe string transfer budget as the club try to claw back their substantial debts.
Fernando Torres Sale to Give Benitez War Chest
Under Pressure Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will hold crunch talks with Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton today about his future with the club and the availability of funds should he stay. Reeling from Chelsea’s bold move for Fernando Torres, Benitez is looking for confirmation that he will get all of the £70million Chelsea are looking to offer for Liverpool’s star striker.
Rumor has it Chelsea are surprised that their bid for Torres has garnered such public attention. With Man City likely to also put forward a bid, Chelsea know they have to bid high ensuring they will get Torres signature. If Chelsea are successful, they will have one of the most dynamic forward line seen in soccer. The potential partnership of Torres and Didier Drogba seems to be too good to be true, and would be terrifying to Premier League teams as well as the best in Europe. Fernando Torres scored 50 goals for Liverpool quicker than Ian Rush, Michael Owen and John Aldridge. That goes some way to telling you just how good he is and why Chelsea would be willing to spend £70m on him.
Even though Torres is such a hot commodity, my biggest fear is his injury record.
Riera Hit’s out at Boss Benitez
Happier Times
Albert Riera’s recent outburst condemning Rafa Benitez of not looking after his players concerns certaintly has done nothing for his chances of a recall to first team action with Liverpool.
However it does seem to to have alerted a couple of Russian teams who are looking to sign him up.
Riera joined Liverpool from Espanyol in 2008, but has been only been used as a squad player this season , which has frustrated Riera even more.
Riera was quoted as saying on Radio Marca: ‘When the coach says nothing to you and you are well, with no physical problems and training well, you cannot help but think it must be something personal.
‘If I’m doing something badly and you are my boss, and you value me, then you are going to come and tell me what I have to do to play again.
‘I’ve been here two years and I know how he is. He’s never sorted out a situation with a player by talking with him. His dialogue with the players is practically nil, ‘ added the 27 year-old winger.
Riera is not the first player to disagree with Benitez, only recently Ryan Babel made a similar statement maintaining he wasn’t been giving a proper chance to become a regular in the Liverpool team.
Is it all coming apart at Anfield, seems players have lost respect for their boss and that can only lead to exit of the players or the manager. who will it be?
