As a Chelsea fan you can love him or hate him but you just cannot ignore the fact that Rafa Benitez has guided Chelsea to a respectable position at the end of the season. Even under extreme conditions he has marched the club to the third place in the league and added another feather to the cap with the Europa League.
Rafa Benitez has since left the club leaving the doors open for Jose Mourinho and judging by his six months stint at the helm, he has earned the right of having the last laugh. For the man who almost got immuned to the brickbats hurled at him by the fans week in week out, has even dared to declare that, now that he is gone the Chelsea fans are going to miss him (Or at-least a few)
His wife has stated in her twitter account that she is happy that her husband has left the Chelsea job and even called the supporters as “plastic fans”.
But then all well that ends well. It looks like a happy ending of the saga with Chelsea set to replace Rafa with The Special One, Jose Mourinho and Benitez being appointed the new boss of the Seria A runners Napoli. It may have taken some months for Chelsea fans, but ultimately they had no option but to endure Benitez and the good work that he achieved at Stamford Bridge, and now greater times await thanks to the Spaniard’s ground work to set up next season.
Even after his disastrous campaign in 2010 with Inter Milan from which the Nerazzuri have still not recovered, the team that Napoli’s previous boss Walter Mazzarri has gone to manage, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis decided that Rafa was the man to lead the charge and now the Spaniard has been given a two year contract. It seems that the Chelsea job, which he desperately took November, has yielded results for the former Liverpool manager and Napoli would be a fresh start for him, a place where he would be welcomed by the club and the supporters alike.
But then certain disturbing reports have emerged for Rafa which suggest that he was definitely not the first person to be considered for the job. Current Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was initially asked to take charge of the side but he refused after thinking about the offer. Prandelli’s refusal opened the doors for Rafa and that is how he landed with the job.
So will it bother Rafa, knowing that he is a second choice at Napoli as well?
Well, knowing Rafa the person, he would definitely not mind being the second choice and would like to make the best of the situation at hand. We can only assume that this season Rafa Benitez would be in full swing to prevent the transfer of Cavani and lead the team to domestic and European glory.