Soccer

Everton to confirm controversial Benítez appointment

Animosity towards the 61-year-old has already spilled over into personal abuse

An official announcement about Rafael Benitez is expected from Everton on Wednesday or Thursday. Photograph: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

Andy Hunter
Tue Jun 29 2021 - 20:04

Rafael Benítez is set to be confirmed as Everton's new manager in the next 48 hours after finalising terms on a three-year contract at Goodison Park.

The former Liverpool manager will be installed as Carlo Ancelotti's replacement after personal terms were agreed with Everton's majority shareholder, Farhad Moshiri. An official announcement is expected from the club on Wednesday or Thursday.

Benítez will be the most controversial managerial appointment in Everton's history given his strong allegiances to Liverpool, where he won the Champions League in 2005 and the FA Cup in 2006, and the anger he caused among Evertonians when calling his new employer's "a small club" after a Merseyside derby in 2007.

Animosity towards the 61-year-old has already spilled over into personal abuse on banners left outside Goodison Park and one that threatened Benítez should he sign and was left near his family home in Wirral. Merseyside Police are investigating the latter, that warned: ‘We know where you live’ but was left outside the wrong house.

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The opposition of many - though not all - Everton fans to the appointment has not deterred Benítez from accepting the offer to return to Premier League management, nor Moshiri from making another divisive managerial choice. Despite having a director of football in Marcel Brands, Everton's majority shareholder has again personally driven the search for a new manager since Ancelotti stunned the club by returning to Real Madrid on June 1st.

David Moyes was initially considered but the former Everton manager, overlooked by Moshiri when Ancelotti became available in December 2019, opted to sign a three-year contract extension with West Ham. Nuno Espírito Santo had expected to be offered the position following meetings with Moshiri only for the Everton hierarchy to cool on the former Wolves manager. Since then, Moshiri has held several rounds of constructive talks with Benítez and considers him the best available candidate in a difficult market.

The former Liverpool manager is expected to bring his long-time fitness coach Paco de Miguel to Goodison but it remains to be seen where Duncan Ferguson, caretaker manager before Ancelotti and first-team coach under the Italian, fits into Benítez’s plans. - Guardian

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