In one of the worst kept secrets in European football Rafa Benitez will be leaving Napoli when the Serie A season comes to a conclusion on Sunday.
The Spaniard’s contract with the club from Naples finishes this summer and he is majorly in-demand.
The former-Liverpool boss is the current favourite to be the next Real Madrid boss after Carlo Ancelotti was fired following a trophyless campaign for Los Blancos.
The Spaniard had been linked with a return to the Premier League with West Ham, but I am sure the Bernabeu holds more appeal than the Boleyn right now.
Benitez has experience of Madrid, having previously worked as a youth team coach at Real, before moving on to manage Valencia to two La Liga titles and a UEFA Cup.
The job would be a tempting one for the Spaniard, with the players already available to him and the possibility to have big resources at his disposal. However, it is also regarded as a difficult job because of the big egos within the Real dressing room.
Too often the players seem to overshadow the boss, even the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho seemed to struggle to get to proper grips with the clubs politics. The Portuguese boss did claim the clubs only La Liga title in seven years though.
It seems like the perfect time for Rafa Benitez to return to the Spanish capital and prove that he can still win the big trophies. However, the Spaniard will have a job on his hands to wrestle domestic dominance from the Lionel Messi-powered Barcelona.
Is Rafa Benitez set for Real Madrid?
I think that he’ll be the next Real Madrid coach but I’m not too sure that he’s the best choice. Although Benitez did win several important trophies in his early days as a coach, recently his teams have been lacking consistency. I attribute this mainly to the lack of determination and aggressiveness of his teams.