A life’s ambition has been realized for Rafa Benitez, who will become Real Madrid’s next manager.
When he started out his career in management, this was the job he always dreamed of getting and I know how much it means to him because he used to come up to me every couple of months at Melwood and say ‘Madrid have made me an offer’!
There has been surprise in some quarters that Madrid have turned to Benitez but, really, he should be thought of more highly within the game, considering his impressive c.v. Never mind what he did for Valencia and Liverpool, he’s won trophies for Inter Milan, Chelsea and Napoli too.
Perhaps it stems from his persona and the cryptic quotes he gives to the media; Benitez has political tendencies when he gets in a club and there is little doubt that will be tested to the maximum by Madrid’s hierarchy!
It has been said that he is too defensive to be in charge of Madrid’s fortunes but I don’t agree with that. He likes to have the right balance between defence and attack and that, essentially, is what all managers should want.
Already we have seen reports saying he is going to build his team around Gareth Bale. There is no doubt Madrid need to get more from Bale but it wouldn’t be too clever to concentrate on him instead of Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been scoring between 50 and 60 goals in each of the past five seasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment