Since the Chinese Super League has entered the era of gold dollar soccer, it has attracted a lot of top foreign aid and world famous managers, and former Dalian Spanish manager Rafael Benitez is a member of this group of reinforcements.
Rafa Benitez, 63, made a name for himself at Spanish powerhouse Valencia, where he took over from Cooper in 2001 at the age of 41. In 2001, at the age of 41, he took over from Cooper and became Valencia's new manager. At the beginning of his tenure, Rafael Benitez led his team to win the La Liga trophy again, defeating Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Three years later, Rafa Benitez moved to the English Premier League, in charge of Liverpool coaching whip. After five years of coaching at Liverpool, tactician Rafa Benitez led the team to win the Champions League, UEFA Cup and FA Cup, but never had a chance to win the Premier League. As his coaching career at Liverpool faded, he was sacked by the club in the summer of 2010 for missing out on the Champions League.
After leaving Liverpool, Rafa Benitez coached Inter Milan, Chelsea, Napoli and Real Madrid and other European giants, but has never been able to reproduce the splendor of the Liverpool period. From the Real Madrid dismissal, Benitez lost the world famous manager's halo, can only join the bottom of the Premier League team Newcastle.
In 2019, Rafa Benitez's contract with Newcastle expired and he accepted an offer from Wanda Group to set foot in the Chinese Super League, joining FC Dalian (now renamed Dalian Ren), which caused a furore in domestic football at the time.
However, after joining Dalian, Rafa Benitez did not lead the team to reproduce the former glory. In one and a half seasons in charge of the team, he only led the Dalian people to play six rounds of exciting league, the team's results and Benitez's "world famous manager" title is far from it.
At the end of the 2020 season, Rafa Benitez announced his resignation and his coaching staff left for China, leaving the club in a mess. Since then, Spanish coach Jose, personally recommended by Benitez, has taken Dalian to China's First Division, where they were lucky to return to the Chinese Super League as replacements due to Chongqing's exit.
After leaving Dalian, Rafa Benitez was unemployed for a long time, and in the summer of 2021 he had no choice but to take over from Carlo Ancelotti, who had moved to Real Madrid, as manager of Premier League underdogs Everton.
But after half a season in charge of Everton, Rafa Benitez was once again sacked by the club due to his poor performances. Since then, he has been idle and has not found a new job for over a year.
In a recent interview with the English sports media, Rafa Benitez revealed that he had received several offers from overseas clubs, including the first team of the Chinese Super League.
As of now, Shanghai Seaport is the only club in the Chinese Super League that can afford to hire a world-class coach like Rafa Benitez. After firing coach Leko, Seaport has been looking for a new manager for their team, and Benitez's reputation fits their needs.
However, the situation of the Harbour Team has become complicated after the fall of former Football Association chairman Chen Xuyuan. It is uncertain whether Harbour will be able to attract reinforcements as big as before in the new season. Even if they can invite Rafa Benitez, I am afraid he will not be able to lead the team to the Super League title, judging from his past coaching experience.
