Everton and Liverpool have coexisted for 129 years. Never in all this time has the same coach directed both of them. Rafa Benítez (Madrid, 1960) will be the first to do so. His signing for Everton (24 titles since 1878) is a professional challenge from the inside of a club that has not touched the Champions zone since 2005 and also personal because of his past at Anfield, where he is respected and admired for that Champions League that he conquered. In Estambul.
Rafa Benítez arrives at Goodison Park backed by club president Bill Kenwright and after gaining the trust of the owner Farhad Moshiri, an Iranian businessman who, after a symbolic stake in Arsenal, acquired 77% of Everton's share capital in 2017. The arrival of Benítez has not been without criticism from a sector of the Everton fans, although the city has also dawned in recent days with welcome banners and in favor of the Madrid landing, which will arrive with Paco de Miguel Y Antonio Gomez as helpers.
Everton's will be Rafa Benítez's fourth adventure in the Premier League: Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle. Benítez thus returns to the first row of the benches in Europe after his adventure that lasted two years at Dalian Yifang. Precisely Benítez agreed to terminate his contract at the end of last year with the Chinese club due to his ambition to take charge of a project in old Europe. If possible in England. If possible, close to where he settled in 2005: in a mansion on the outskirts of Liverpool. And so it will be.
Banner in favor of Benítez on a statue dedicated to Everton.
Benítez has played metal in six of the seven European clubs he has managed since 2002: Valencia, Liverpool, Inter, Naples, Chelsea and Newcastle, 13 titles in total, including a Champions League, two Europa League, a Club World Cup and two Leagues. He only remained blank in his ephemeral time on the Real Madrid bench. Curiously, Benítez takes over from Carlo Ancelotti at Everton, the same transfer of powers that occurred in the summer of 2015 at the Santiago Bernabéu.
In Goodison Park he will meet James again, a footballer who has already managed at Real Madrid and whose future is yet to be decided. Benítez accepts the blue challenge with ambition and to show that his time in China was not a retirement but an exotic point and apart in his 26-year professional career in three of the five major European competitions: League, Premier and Serie A. In the Everton's ranks, in addition, he will recover general manager duties, a way of working that he defends tooth and nail. All with the aim of recovering their lost place for Everton.