Spanish journalist Guillem Balgaue has claimed that Newcastle had no “real interest” in securing a new deal for manager Rafa Benitez.
The club confirmed on Monday that they had been unable to find an agreement with Benitez and that the manager would leave on June 30 when his current deal expires.
In a statement, the club said it was “disappointed” with the news but Balague has claimed that the offers made to Benitez had “no real reflection on the work done” and that the club had “delayed answers” and made false promises”.
Balague made the claims on his Twitter account shortly after the news was announced.
I have the impression that for some unfathomable reason there was not real interest in keeping him. Including renewal offers with no real reflection on the work done, delayed answers and false promises.
Foreign teams will be knocking his door, but it will be a miss for the PL https://t.co/WefqmihPvL
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) June 24, 2019
OPINION
Balague has said what a lot of Newcastle fans have been thinking. And it’s true that Ashley could have held onto Benitez had he really wanted to. However, if Ashley never had any intention of keeping Benitez, it seems odd that he would let it go this far without having a Plan B in place. Admittedly, they can’t actually hire a new manager until Benitez leaves but it would have been very easy to announce his departure earlier and get a replacement lined up. As it is, the statement from Newcastle says that the process of hiring a new manager “will now begin”. That would suggest that Newcastle assumed that Benitez would sign a new deal and dial back on his demands. We doubt we’ll ever know the truth. Benitez doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would go public with what actually happened behind the scenes, although that could depend on his levels of frustration.