Benitez confirmed as Inter manager, increasing chance of Liverpool player exodus

By Pete Wilson

8 June 2010

Rafa Benitez is the new manager of Internazionale, and his appointment will officially be confirmed tomorrow. The Spaniard has been out of work for less than a week and his move comes as no surprise; he was considering the post even before Liverpool’s hierarchy forced him out.

The Inter president, Massimo Moratti, had wanted to talk to Fabio Capello about succeeding Jose Mourinho but Capello signed to stay with England instead. “It’s done, it’s agreed,” Moratti has said this evening of Benitez’s new job. “The only details left to arrange are minor, unimportant. Tomorrow we shall confirm Rafa Benitez.”

Liverpool fans will be among those least happy at this development; Benitez will almost certainly try to raid Anfield for players, perhaps including Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.

Gerrard is wanted by Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid and is likelier to go there, sources say, than remain at Anfield or go to Italy. Torres is wanted by Chelsea and Manchester City among others, and with Liverpool having no Champions League football to offer, will be tempted to leave too.