Rafa Benitez in running for Nottingham Forest job as former Everton boss gets set for Premier League return
It looks as though Rafa Benitez could be set for a return to the Premier League less than a year after he was sacked by Everton.
The Telegraph reported on Monday night (3 October) that Benitez is in the running to replace Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest if the East Midlands club opt to sack the Welshman following their 4-0 defeat to rivals Leicester.
Cooper’s position at the City Ground is said to have been “plunged into doubt” off the back of that mauling to the Foxes, which left Forest bottom of the Premier League table.
Forest spent £150million on new players in the summer transfer window and it seems the board at the City Ground are losing trust in whether Cooper is the man to offer them a return on their investment.
But Benitez being lined up to replace him is no doubt a backwards step.
The 62-year-old was idolised by Newcastle fans despite his continuous low finishes in the Premier League and dreadful football.
He then went off to China to manage Dalian Professional.
For some reason, Farhad Moshiri then thought it was a great idea to hire the former Liverpool manager off the back of his time in China to replace Carlo Ancelotti when he’d been snapped up by Real Madrid.
Benitez didn’t last long.
His football was woeful and fans were never going to get on board with having him in charge due to the affiliation with Liverpool.
We saw in a recent interview with Sky Sports how he blamed his connections to Anfield for being unable to do his job properly at Everton.
What a load of rubbish.
Forest fans, be wary.
While it may be difficult for Forest to avoid relegation this season, they’ll be worse off with Benitez than they are currently with Cooper, who’s a great young coach who needs to be given more of a chance to get a newly-assembled squad to gel.