SOCCER NEWS:RAFAEL BENITEZ'S agent has confirmed ongoing talks are aimed at ending his contract at Inter Milan, according to Sky Sports Italia.
In what amounts to the first solid indication that Benitez has indeed been sacked by the reigning Serie A and European champions, agent Manuel Garcia Quilon was last night quoted as saying: “We are talking about it, but I cannot say anything more”.
Quilon met last night with Inter vice president Rinaldo Ghelfi and technical director Marco Branca as well as the club lawyer Angelo Capellini. “We are neither optimistic nor pessimistic,” he added. “We will meet again to talk more.”
With Benitez back in Liverpool, speculation has swirled for the last 24 hours that he has been dismissed as Inter coach, but the club have denied the story thus far, with president Massimo Moratti last night describing the situation as “a bit of a mess” that the club are “trying to understand”.
But the 50-year-old looks likely to leave the post after he issued a “sack me or back me” ultimatum after leading Inter to success in the Fifa Club World Cup on Saturday.
After the weekend 3-0 win over African side TP Mazembe, Benitez called for Moratti to back him in the upcoming transfer market after an otherwise poor start to the season.
The five-time reigning Serie A champions sit seventh in the Serie A table while they only qualified second in their Champions League group behind competition debutants Tottenham.
Inter’s season has been undermined by injury, but with a 13-point gap behind leaders and city rivals AC Milan, Benitez has come under intense fire just six months into the job.
Moratti attended a meeting at the club’s offices last night, following which he claimed Benitez was still boss and that no contact had been made with potential replacements.
Former AC Milan boss Leonardo has, however, been heavily linked with the post yesterday, although Moratti denied any talks between the two parties had taken place.
Benitez is on holiday with the Italian season now in its winter break, but it is unclear if he will return to Milan. After the Mazembe match the Spaniard, who signed a two-year-deal at Inter after leaving Liverpool at the end of last season, said: “There are three possibilities for the club.
“One, 100 per cent support for the coach and buy four or five players to build a stronger team with competition among the players to be able to carry on winning matches and trophies. Two, carry on like this without a project, without planning, and go ahead with one person to blame, for the whole season.
“The third,” he added, “is to speak to my agent to reach an agreement if there is not this support. Simple.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson says he does not feel threatened by Benitez’s arrival back on Merseyside, admitting it would be “surprising” if the Spaniard was considered the man for the club’s future.
Hodgson has so far failed to win over a large number of fans and speculation about his future has persisted since his side’s woeful start to the season.
Benitez’s return to the home he kept on the Wirral this week has led many supporters to step up their campaign for his reinstatement at Anfield.
Banners declaring their support adorned a fence outside his house yesterday and one online poll had 65 per cent of respondents expressing their desire to see Benitez back at the helm.
Hodgson, however, remains unmoved and unaffected by the continued speculation.
Asked whether he felt under any additional pressure considering Benitez’s proximity, he responded: “None at all, no.”
And when quizzed about suggestions Benitez could be a contender for his job, he said: “You’d have to ask the owners about that. It would be surprising.
“If he was the right man for the job it would have been wiser not to let him go for six months and then have to bring him back again.
“This job will always be linked with lots of people. When you are in one of the top jobs in the country it would be very strange if there were not other people being linked with my job.
Benitez left Anfield in June, when former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett were still in charge, with a huge pay-off after a seventh-place Premier League finish. His relationship with senior figures at the club contributed to his downfall, but many of those have now left.
Hicks and Gillett have been replaced by John Henry and Tom Werner, whose New England Sports Ventures completed a €360 million buy-out in October, while the search for a new chief executive is expected to be concluded early in the new year after Christian Purslow – one of Benitez’s significant opponents – stepped down two months ago.
