The average Chelsea manager, in the past 15 years, has had a reign of 490 days. Rafa Benitez managed just 190. Antonio Conte is currently up to 664. He increasingly wears the look of a man on borrowed time. The news that Luis Enrique is now a front-runner to replace him will add to the increasingly irritated disposition of the Italian.
It struck a strange contrast that as Conte was being censured by a deeply frustrated Chelsea board for his indiscreet anger at the club’s transfer policy, Benitez, the Newcastle United manager who will occupy the away-team dugout at Stamford Bridge for today’s FA Cup fourth-round tie, exuded a sense of cautious optimism.
Benitez has ended the past two transfer windows with his future at St James’ Park in serious doubt. Each time he looked as agitated as Conte, his wishes unfulfilled. But now, with serious negotiations taking place about the club’s future, and with Feyenoord about the potential £20m signing of Nicola Jorgensen (Newcastle are £5m out on valuation at the minute), Benitez spoke about the need to be “on the same page”.
The Spaniard confirmed last week’s Sunday Times story that preliminary talks had been held about his extending the three-year contract he signed in May 2016. Given the fractious nature of relationships when those past two transfer windows closed, that felt fairly revelatory.
He talked publicly for the first time about his desire to stay and much will depend on the next three days. Newcastle signed left-back Kenedy on loan from Chelsea, and Benitez wants a goalkeeper, Jorgensen and perhaps even one more.
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“I told Mike [Ashley, the club’s owner] what I thought, and what I think, about that [an extension],” he admitted. “He knows my opinion and we don’t have to talk now.
“I am really pleased here, with the city, the fans, it’s a lovely club and we have to maximise this potential in order to have more chances to do well in the future.
“I don’t have any problem with my future. I’m really pleased here and I love the city, the fans, the potential, everything. When I decided to come I had the same feeling. The main thing is that we have to be on the same page, that’s pretty simple.”
Conte’s isolation in transfer dealings is similar to that which befell Steve McClaren and Alan Pardew, Benitez’s predecessors at Newcastle. Benitez pushed repeatedly to take control from the former chief scout Graham Carr, and he was given that in the summer.
Kenedy, the 21-year-old Brazilian, was the 19th player running chosen by Benitez. One of the managers before him did not even recognise a new signing walking into his office at the club’s Benton training ground.
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“I was working with a technical director in Spain and Italy and I didn’t have any problem. Then I was working as a manager with a chief executive or chief scout and I didn’t have any problem. You have names, you talk about that and then you go,” said Benitez.
“I cannot control the financial part of the deals. What I have to do is give names, have some information, get feedback from Lee [Charnley, the club’s managing director] and then give my opinion.
“I like to talk and have the communication and I talk with Lee and I was talking with Mike about the names that we wanted for this window.
“I didn’t have any problem [at Chelsea]. My relationship with [Roman] Abramovich was good. We did a deal for Demba Ba in January. We lost one player, I wanted to bring one, they said no, okay things can happen. But still we had a lot of games to play, we won the Europa League and were in the semi-final of the Carling Cup. We were competing with a squad that was not too big. We came third, that was the target.”
The Newcastle manager now wants a centre-forward. Two years ago Newcastle bid £24m for Saido Berahino, swerved a bullet and yet were still relegated after spending £30m in the January transfer window.
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There remains suspicion among the support. Amanda Staveley’s brief and futile flirtation with the club has provoked much negativity. Benitez appears to have got past that, after being told three weeks ago any takeover talk by her was dead. There are now three days to land Jorgensen. Much rests on Charnley landing the player, and the manager keeping faith with his board, a fundamentally important part of a happy football club, as the bedraggled Conte would concur.
