Chinese club Dalian Yifang are believed to be attempting to set up formal talks with Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez, according to The Northern Echo.
The newspaper claims that Dalian are trying to set the wheels in motion to bring the Spaniard to the Far East, after Sky Sports reported on Tuesday that they are willing to pay him £12million-per-year.
At this stage there isn’t believed to have been any contact between the Chinese outfit and the Magpies boss, who is 11 days away from his contract expiring.
As such, Dalian are ready to enter into a formal set of talks with Benitez.
OPINION
This is all becoming rather concerning for Newcastle fans, isn’t it? We’ve always thought of Benitez as someone who values competition and the prestige of a club like the Magpies over a boatload of cash, but due to the disrespect the club have shown him he may well decide that the time is right to take a big money offer over in China. Newcastle have allowed his contract to run down to the last week and change, while the bosses at St James’ Park are seemingly refusing to compromise on key issues that Benitez has had for some time. Because of all that, who could blame the Spaniard for taking the money on offer in the Far East? Dalian Yifang are clearly keen to bring him in and are ready to get talks underway. They are in a rush to have Benitez as their manager, something that’s seemingly an alien concept on Tyneside. The Newcastle fans will be hoping that this all works out in their favour, but things aren’t looking good at the moment.
