EUROPE:RAFAEL BENITEZ'S future as manager of Internazionale is hanging in the balance despite his insistence he enjoys a "respectful relationship" with the club's president, Massimo Moratti.
Luciano Spalleti remains the favourite to succeed the Spaniard at San Siro, with the England coach Fabio Capello not thought to feature prominently on the list of potential replacements.
The European champions claimed the Club World Cup by defeating the Congolese team TP Mazembe in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, their fifth trophy of the year, only for Benitez to issue his employers of six months with an ultimatum to provide funds for new players in the midwinter to reinvigorate the side’s lacklustre Serie A defence.
That outburst appeared to have fractured his relationship with Moratti beyond repair, though there was an attempt yesterday to offer an explanation for his post-match comments.
Benitez, whose side are seventh in the Italian top-flight, 13 points off leaders Milan going into the winter break, is now back in England spending time with his family having departed Italy with rumours circulating he had already been dismissed by Inter. He denied that was the case, but reiterated he would need to be granted leeway in the transfer market if the side are to maintain their success.
“I haven’t been sacked,” he said. “I’m surprised that the news has been reported almost as if it was official. I’m on holiday in Liverpool to rest so that I can restart my job next month in the best possible way. The president (Moratti) had left Abu Dhabi on a plane just after the game on Saturday and the only thing I could do was say clearly what had already been clear for weeks. I didn’t want to give him any ultimatum.
“I had talks with him about my ‘project’ and he replied that it was clear I’d come from England because I’m a ‘manager’ as opposed to just a ‘coach’. My plan was to add a few useful players immediately and then some youngsters later in order to have a lower budget for salaries in the future.
“Moratti liked this project . . . He has to make the decision which route we want to follow. In the past he told me that some current players and some former players had told him that Inter had not played so well in 20 years, and that we were the ‘Barcelona of Italian football’. However, I think we need to sign some players if we want to keep on winning. Injuries made our lives very difficult and we don’t want this to happen again. The transfer market is about to reopen so this was the right time to talk about possible reinforcements.”
No final decision on the Spaniard’s future is expected to be made until after Christmas – Inter do not play again until January 6th – with Moratti declining to comment yesterday before departing for Spain on business. “I’d prefer not to talk to avoid the risk of creating controversies,” he said.
However, the list of potential replacements for Benitez is topped by the former Roma manager Spalleti, who has won the Russian title in his first year at Zenit St Petersburg but would be willing to return home to Italy. Should Benitez be sacked and Inter fail to extricate Spalleti from his contract they would consider appointing the technical assistant Giuseppe Baresi on an interim basis.
The former Milan coach Leonardo has also been mentioned though Capello, who attended the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi as a guest of Moratti, is unlikely to be offered the chance to return to Serie A. The England coach’s €7.1-million contract runs until 2012 with the Football Association neither publicly courting an approach nor anticipating one.
The 64-year-old’s son Pierfilippo, who also acts as his agent, indicated last week he did not expect his father to return to Italy in a coaching capacity – rather, he may work as a media pundit once his spell with England draws to a close after Euro 2012 – with sources close to the national coach suggesting likewise.
* Guardian Service
