Rafa Benitez is out of work again after being fired by Real Madrid earlier this week.
Sky Spanish football expert Guillem Balague says that he believes the manager would have had a far better time at West Ham had he accepted their offer.
Benitez was approached by David Sullivan early last summer after Sam Allardyce was sacked, before they decided to appoint Slaven Bilic.
Sullivan told Sky Sports last week “We were two hours from getting Benítez and then Real came in. We had agreed a contract and everything, He is a top manager whatever anybody says and I think he’d have done a wonderful job for us. We tried [Jürgen] Klopp as well but he wouldn’t come because he said he wanted a break. But I’m glad with the manager we have got.”
Balague told Sky Sports: “Before he signed for Real Madrid he almost signed for West Ham, and I think he would have enjoyed West Ham much more. He wants to come to the Premier League, quite clearly. By almost accepting West Ham suggests that he will be willing to go anywhere in the top 10 of the Premier League.“
the **** has turned us down twice now…time to get over him. Bilic or Benitez? Doubt many West Ham fans would swap SB.
From what I’ve seen of Slaven so far, it seems having some kind of affinity to the club and fans is very important. hes completely transformed the atmosphere around the place as well as the football. Not sure Rafa would have done the same without spending a sh*t load of more money.
probably the best thing he could ever have done 4 us is turn us down. Thanks Rafa
The expression ‘Dodged a bullett’ springs to mind. If he wasnt 100% commited to the Iron’s cause (and he wasn’t because he left us in the learch having aggreed a deal) why would we want him? No, no point in crying over letting this one go; we have Slaven now and have moved on. It will take many people time to understand this, but I think eventually they will get the message. Things have changed and there is no going back!
A three year contract cancelled by Real Madrid. That has got to be a very nice pay-off and I bet Rafa doesn’t regret a thing. Jealous? you bet 🙁
Was just thinking the same thing Oldgit.Guy is Spanish got the chance to manage one of the biggest clubs in the world & is now probably sat on a beach with a beer in hand & a bank balance that has swollen considerably.Im sure the geezer aint even given coming to us a second thought.I dojt blame him for turning us down to go to Real one bit,if i was Spanish i would have done the same.
That beach is getting very crowded,
Never mind we ended up with a good manager,
Why,is Hippohead there on holiday,lol
The picture reminds me of Maxwell Smart “I missed it by that much”.As Ironman said we “dodged a bullet”.