Guillem Balague has ruled out the possibility of Rafa Benitez being interested in the managerial vacancy at Celtic Park.
Benitez’s deal with Newcastle will expire at the end of the season and that has led to him being linked with the job at Celtic as the Scottish giants are yet to find a permanent replacement for Brendan Rodgers, who left for Leicester in February.
Spanish football expert Balague has claimed that Benitez would only be interested in staying in the Premier League if he was to leave Newcastle, which effectively means that he will not be heading to Glasgow in the summer.
“The priority is to stay at Newcastle,” Balague said via his YouTube channel when asked if Benitez would be interested in the vacancy at Celtic.
“The kind of offers that he got, which are like €10million net a year, come from Saudi Arabia and from China which I don’t think are the places he should go next.
“The battle is to stay at Newcastle, if he gets enough support.
“If he doesn’t stay at Newcastle I think the Premier League will be the competition he would like to stay in. I think that will be the target.
“Another matter is which club will actually go for him. I don’t believe there’s been offers yet in that department. But that’s where it all stands – he wants to stay in the Premier League.
“The Premier League is his big target.”
OPINION
Celtic will struggle to attract big-name managers like Benitez. Rodgers was quite the coup for them when he was hired a few years back, and that showed as the ex-Liverpool boss went on to win every single piece of domestic silverware that was available to him while also going on a record-breaking unbeaten run. Benitez is going to want a lot of money for the Hoops to lure him to Scotland but as there are bound to be clubs in the Premier League that are interested in him, the Glasgow giants are going to find it really hard to match the financial terms of those deals. Benitez will more than likely stay at Newcastle. Mike Ashley is more than likely waiting until the last moment to green light a new deal for the Spaniard, who seems as though he is keen on staying put at St James’ Park beyond the end of this term.