By Rafa Benitez has signed a three-year contract with Everton, the local rival of his longtime former club Liverpool.
The ‘historic’ deal means the Spaniard has become the first man in modern history to manage at both Liverpool and Everton since William Edward Barclay in the 1890s.
Everton confirmed the appointment of Rafa Benitez as their new manager on Wednesday night.
The 61-year-old will take charge of his fourth English top-flight team – after Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle – and is back in work five months after leaving Chinese club Dalian Professional because of family reasons during the pandemic.
He is an experienced, well-traveled and well-respected coach having also been in charge of leading teams like Real Madrid, Napoli, Inter Milan and Valencia.
Benitez has had numerous meetings with Everton owner, Farhad Moshiri, before the deal was finalized for him to succeed Carlo Ancelotti’s successor — who joined Real Madrid after 18 months at Goodison Park.
“We are appointing Rafa because we believe he will bring success to our Club and to Evertonians. To put it simply – we need to be competing at the top-end of the league and to be winning trophies,” said Moshiri.
“Rafa is a proven winner with huge experience in coaching internationally and we have secured the best man to achieve that for us.”
He is expected to arrive at the club’s Finch Farm training base to commence work with the Everton squad on July 5.
