According to the Sun’s Justin Allen – who broke the Sheikh Khaled ‘exclusive’ on Sunday night – the Bin Zayen Group “absolutely” want to keep Rafa Benitez at Newcastle United, and are pushing to complete a takeover BEFORE his contract expires on June 30th.
This comes after the BZG’s latest statement this afternoon. In this they claimed that proof of funds shown were shown to Newcastle in April, documents had been signed by both parties and sent to the Premier League as a result. Strangely, the club are yet to respond to these comments, but what would the BZG gain from lying to the national media, other than awful PR?
While the takeover itself is dominating the headlines, the future of Rafa Benitez is key in all of this – and it’s now been insisted that he is a big part of the Bin Zayed Group’s plans should a buyout occur.
Here’s what Justin Allen’s had to say about the situation, claiming that the group are trying to complete a takeover ‘as soon as possible’ in a plan to keep the Spaniard at St James’ Park:
“Regarding Rafa Benitez, the group absolutely want to keep him as the manager and are trying to complete the deal BEFORE his contract expires.
“They are trying to complete the takeover as “soon as possible” working within the process.”
Rafa’s contract expires on June 30, so the clock is ticking, however it’s promising to hear that they’re pushing to complete a deal before that date – especially when it was claimed earlier this week that a deal was unlikely to be finalised in time.
New money and ambition arriving into the club would be one thing, but retaining Rafa is absolutely key in all of this – that can’t be forgotten.
