Prominent Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague looks to have ruled out the possibility of Rafa Benitez becoming the next Celtic manager.
Responding to a question about Benitez moving to Celtic on the Football Index Youtube channel, Balague disclosed that Benitez’s main priority is staying at his current club Newcastle.
He also believes that should Benitez leave Newcastle in the summer, he would like to stay in the English Premier League.
“Priority is to stay”
“Priority is to stay at Newcastle” he said. “If he doesn’t stay at Newcastle, I think the Premier League will be the competition he would like to stay. He wants to stay in the Premier League.”
Benitez’s contract runs out at Newcastle at the end of the season. It will be intriguing to see what his next step will be.
An incredible coup
If he moved to Celtic, it would arguably be an even bigger coup than Brendan Rodgers’ decision to join Celtic. Benitez has won leagues in Spain, breaking the Real Madrid and Barcelona duopoly with Valencia.
However, going by Balague’s comments, it seems unlikely that he is going to move to Scotland. As the season reaches its climax it seems more and more likely that interim manager Neil Lennon will be appointed as the next Celtic boss.
Perhaps the Hoops are waiting for the end of the season to announce Lennon. But unless something changes dramatically, it seems that it will be Lennon taking over permanently at Celtic.
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