Speculation is rife tonight that a pay-off has been agreed between Rafa Benitez and Liverpool FC and that the Spaniard will be leaving Anfield in the next few days.
Nothing concrete thus far but Tony Barrett of the Times Newspaper has posted the following to add to the speculation:
quote:
In today´s Ahead of the game e-mail bulletin we asked Tony Barrett, our Merseyside writer, if rumours linking Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, with the vacant coach´s position at Inter Milan had any substance. Here is his reply: "Before the end of last season, The Times suggested that Rafael Benitez was on the brink of bringing his tenure as Liverpool manager to an end. It may have gone quiet since then but nothing has changed to alter this assessment. In fact, the likelihood is that this is merely the calm before the storm.
"Benitez is still in charge at Anfield and there have been no fresh indications that a change to his status is imminent. But, and this is absolutely crucial, it is hard to see any boardroom support being forthcoming and if the Liverpool directors do not fall in behind Benitez and his plans for the club then logic suggests there can be only one outcome - his departure.
"If Liverpool were awash with cash then the probability is that Benitez would have gone already. At the moment, like a lot of people at the club, he is in limbo, not sure whether he will still be at the club next season and in the dark about what kind of financial support he will receive if he is.
"It is for this reason that Inter Milan´s interest in him could prove to be the straw that breaks the camel´s back. From Benitez´s point of view an offer from the Serie A side would be highly attractive. They are the reigning European and Italian champions, they have a hefty transfer budget to lavish on top stars this summer and they have one of the best drilled squads around thanks to the supreme efforts of Jose Mourinho.
"But it is the Mourinho factor that might make Inter not as attractive a propositon as they otherwise might be. Benitez will look upon the club and its recent success and wonder how he could possibly better it. It would be easy to look upon the Inter job as the ultimate managerial poisoned chalice because everything you do will be compared to how Mourinho did it and those standards are about as exacting as they come in the modern game.
"The crucial element, though, could simply be that Inter clearly want Benitez, something which no longer appears to be the case at Liverpool. My hunch is that Benitez will not be the manager of Liverpool come the start of next season and it could just be that Inter will make their play for him at just the right time.
