Richard Keys has appeared to take a swipe at Newcastle United fans after it was reported that Rafa Benitez has agreed to become the new manager of Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang.
According to Sky Sports, Benitez is set to earn over £12million-a-year in China, more than doubling the £6million-a-year deal that he had at Newcastle which expired at the end of June.
Ex-Sky Sports host Keys has constantly been at odds with Newcastle fans over the way that their club has been run and he has been on social media on Monday to hit out at fans who told him that Benitez would join a top club and not be lured to China by a big-money deal.
“So Rafa ‘walks into one of the world’s top club’s’ just as you’ve all been telling me he would – for £12m a year – not that that crossed his mind when he left Newcastle,” said Keys via his personal Twitter account on Monday night. “Where is Dalian Yifang btw?”
OPINION
Keys is a wind-up merchant who feeds off the Newcastle fans who are replying to him on Twitter, so fans should try not to respond to the social media troll and instead just ignore him. Benitez cannot be blamed for going to China to earn that much money. While he is a top manager and could manage a top club in Europe, there are not that many jobs that are available at the moment and if he was to head elsewhere, he wouldn’t be able to take a job that would see him stay close to his family in Merseyside or stay near Newcastle. He might as well go to China in that case and there’s no doubt that he will keep one eye on what is happening at major clubs in Europe for him to return at some point in the near future. Benitez’s time in English football is surely not over and someone is bound to want him at some point next season once managers start to get sacked.
