Those connected to Newcastle United are going to great lengths to try and persuade Rafa Benitez to stick with the club in a bid to steer them back into the Premier League next season.
With Benitez seemingly on the brink of committing to extending his stay on Tyneside, his last club might well be ruing the fact they ever gave him the manager’s job in the first place.
As pretty much everyone with a Twitter account pointed out in the immediate aftermath of Newcastle’s relegation, Benitez started the season managing the likes of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in Real Madrid’s Champions League campaign and ended it failing to beat the drop in the North East with the likes of Jack Colback and Paul Dummett.
Replaced in the Spanish capital by Zinedine Zidane, it was initially thought that the former French international would keep the job until the end of the season. Now though, it seems Zizou could be given a permanent deal at the Bernabeu. Unusual given that Florentino Perez has a knack of making more sackings in a season than Alan Sugar has made in every episode of The Apprentice put together.
Aside from steering a Real Madrid side that many are describing as one of the weakest in years to a Champions League final, Zidane also appears to have been afforded more time at the helm because of his impressive league record.
Since taking over from Benitez in January, Zidane’s Real side have collected 53 points in La Liga – more than any other team in Spain’s top flight.
Eventual La Liga champions Barcelona have earned 49 in the same time frame with Atletico Madrid picking up 47.
