He Panathinaikos Greek is preparing the dismissal of the Spanish coach Rafa Benitez only seven months after taking charge of the bench and after a bad season in which he finished fourth in the Greek Super Leaguethe local sports press reports this Tuesday.
He Benítez’s dismissal has already been decided and all that remains is to formalize it, something that could happen this Tuesday, according to the portal Newsbeast.
Benítez would receive, according to that medium, seven million euros in salary for the last seven months and compensation for termination of contract, which was signed last October by two and a half years.
The agreement between the club and Benítez included fees of 3.6 million euros per seasonwhich made the former coach of Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid the highest paid coach in the history of Greek football.
Conference League Option
Benítez managed to take Panathinaikos from seventh to fourth place in the Greek Super Leaguewhich gives him a chance to qualify next year in the Conference League if he manages to win two qualifying rounds.
In addition, this season he led the Greek team to the Europa League round of 16where he was eliminated by the Spanish Real Betis.
However, the owner of Panathinaikos, the businessman Yannis Alafouzoshas not been satisfied with these results, according to the sports media.
The candidate
In fact, the club is considering the possibility of signing Danish coach Jacob Neestrup fired from FC Copenhagen last March, reports the portal Gazzetta.
Benitez He is one of the Spanish technicians most successful in history. He has won a Champions League with English club Liverpool in 2005, a UEFA Cup with Valencia in 2004 and a Europa League as coach of English club Chelsea in 2013.
Panathinaikos has 20 league titles under its belt (the last one from the 2009-2010 season) and 20 Greek Cups (the last one the 2023-2024 season).