Journalist Lee Ryder has claimed that Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez will be ‘very frustrated’ by the takeover talk surrounding the club.
There has been frenzied debate about the possibility of the Bin Zayed group buying the club from owner Mike Ashley, with the group themselves delivering a statement on Wednesday, as per Sky Sports, saying that terms have been agreed for the purchase of the Magpies.
Ryder has now delivered an update on Benitez’s feelings: “Rafa Benitez is desperate to commit his future to Newcastle,” he said in a video on The Chronicle’s news and transfer centre [30/05; after 08:32]. “We did approach the people in the Middle East and said ‘would they still be interested in Rafa Benitez being manager?’, and we haven’t had a response on that yet.
“It’s still early days as far as the manager is concerned. Newcastle have been in negotiations with Rafa, but this changes everything slightly, because they might have another man lined up to come in and take the job, they might have different ideas.
“Every day that goes on is another day wasted in the [transfer] window; other clubs, they’re pushing on, they’re signing players. Newcastle are falling behind slightly. So for Rafa, he’ll be very frustrated at the moment.”
OPINION
Ryder makes some good points, here. We don’t really know whether the Bin Zayed group want Benitez to remain as manager if they complete this mooted takeover of the club. They could potentially take control of the Magpies and then move the Spaniard on because they have their own man who they want to bring in. That’s certainly a possibility, there’s no doubt about it. As for what Ryder says about Benitez likely being frustrated with the delay in sorting his future, that’s probably correct. He’ll want to have his future sorted and then he can go about his job and start recruiting new players in the transfer market. We know he’s ambitious in regards to where he sees Newcastle getting to if there is significant investment, so he will want to go and attack the transfer market and improve his squad. However, he can’t do that until this potential takeover is sorted out one way or the other. So, yes, he likely is frustrated at the moment.
