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Juventus give Benitez 10 days to decide his future
Liverpool boss told the Juventus job is his if he wants it - but Real Madrid may come knocking
It is crunch time for Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, who has been given 10 days to tell the world whether he wants to jump ship and swap Anfield for the Alps and take over at Juventus.
The beleaguered Liverpool boss is one year into a five year contract with Liverpool and has successfully weathered the storms that have raged around the club this season. But with the Reds likely to miss out on the Champions League next term and with the future of the club - and the size his summer transfer budget - in doubt, Benitez could be tempted to call it quits after six years on Merseyside.
The Old Lady of Turin, as Juventus is known, is in a similar position to Liverpool. They are enduring a miseable season - capped by defeat at the hands of Fulham in the Europa League - and they too are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League. The difference being that Juve are committed to rebuilding the squad and Benitez would be handed a transfer kitty of £70m or more - much of it raised by the sale of keeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Juventus made it clear that they wanted the Spaniard in January when they sacked Ciro Ferrara as manager, and even though Benitez rejected their overtures the Italian club's decision to appoint Alberto Zaccheroni as a stop gap suggested that they had not accepted defeat.
Now the Turin-based club has made it clear that the door is still open and that the job is still there for Benitez if he wants it. However, the caveat is that they want to know within 10 days and if they are rejected once again they will turn their attentions to Brazil coach Dunga, and Massimiliano Allegri, the coach of Cagliari.
However, that is not the end of the story as, worryingly for Liverpool, Benitez is also wanted by Real Madrid - or at least the club's fans. According to a survey in the newspaper Marca most fans want the Spaniard to take over at the Bernabeu when the inevitable axe falls on Manuel Pellegrini at the end of the season.
Second favourite for the Madrid job is Jose Mourinho, who would also be one of the main contenders to take over at Anfield if Benitez does leave.
The nightmare scenario for the Reds would be if Benitez decided to head to Juventus and his obvious replacement, Mourinho, took over at Real Madrid - a situation which would leave Liverpool struggling to find a successor while the sharks began circling the likes of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. ·
