Simon Jordan: Benitez may prioritise Premier League at Everton over cup silverware
Simon Jordan has suggested Rafa Benitez may have prioritised the Premier League for Everton after they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
Championship side QPR beat the Toffees on penalties at Loftus Road after normal time resulted in a 2-2 draw.
Benitez’s arrival at Goodison in the summer was a controversial one and Jordan has thrown fuel onto the fire by suggesting that the Spaniard may rather gain the attention of big Premier League clubs instead of winning silverware with Everton.
“I wonder about the priorities of certain managers,” said Jordan on Wednesday, as shown in a clip on talkSPORT’s official Twitter account.
“I’m going to say something here that people think is some sort of bias; I wonder if his preference is to be higher up the Premier League because he believes he’s an elite Premier League manager. He believes there’s more juice in him achieving something higher in the Premier League.
“If he puts Everton eighth or seventh or sixth in the Premier League this season but gets knocked out in the League Cup, his stock, his currency, his juice will be far higher and his reputation will be far better than perhaps progressing through in the League Cup.”
Not having that
Benitez made plenty of changes to the starting line-up ahead of the defeat to QPR but he still named a team that should have beaten the Championship club.
Lucas Digne, Mason Holgate, Ben Godfrey, Andre Gomes, Andros Townsend and Salomon Rondon are all proven top-flight players and some of them are even international plays for major nations.
There’s no excuse for a squad of that quality losing to a team in the Championship and conceding two goals to Charlie Austin, of all people.
Benitez sent on Michael Keane, Demarai Gray and Abdoulaye Doucoure and yet there was still no victory for the Blues.
It was very bad from the players but also, to take the blame away from Benitez even further, he’s hamstrung by the FFP issues at Goodison Park right now and the fact he inherited a squad devoid of strength in depth.
With finances an issue, who can blame him for targeting a better finish in the Premier League over a cup run that could lead to nothing?
One season in the Europa League is going to net the club more cash than getting to the quarter-finals, semi-finals or even the final of the Carabao Cup.
Lay off Rafa on this one.
In other Everton news, the Blues should make another move to sign this £35million midfielder in January.
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