Rafael Benitez’s rejection of Leeds United is reportedly due to the fact that he is waiting to see if the West Ham job becomes available.
According to a report from the Daily Mail, Benitez is said to be “on standby”, if David Moyes fails to last the season, with West Ham currently in the relegation zone with just one win league win since January 21st.
The Leeds United hierarchy allegedly tried to entice the Spaniard to Elland Road after sacking Jesse Marsch, but he showed no interest in the role.
Benitez has been out of management since January 2022, when he was sacked by Everton with the Toffees 15th in the league, but his CV of success would no doubt be something many teams would be impressed by.
The 62-year old has won a Champions League and an FA Cup with Liverpool and a Europa League with Chelsea, while he also led Newcastle to the Championship title in 2016-17, boasting his success at various levels.
With a resurgent Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Brighton coming up in West Ham’s next three games, the club will need some results in those games or they could be saying “goodbye Moyes” and “Hello Benitez” by the start of next month.