Everton have been fighting to avoid relegation since Carlo Ancelotti left them for Real Madrid in the summer of 2021.
The Toffees were successful in avoiding the drop last season and are in another relegation battle this year. They are currently 18th in the table, one point behind Leeds United, who occupy 17th spot.
Everton’s poor run in the league started with the appointment of Rafael Benítez as Ancelotti’s successor. He was in charge of 19 league games during which the Merseyside club collected 19 points during the 2021/22 season.
The poor run saw the Premier League side sack the 62-year-old last January and he hasn’t returned to management since then. Earlier in his career, the Spaniard had a spell at Everton’s local rivals, Liverpool, where he guided them to Champions League glory in 2005.
Liverpool face Real Madrid in the Champions League next week and Onda Cero had an opportunity to interview Benítez. When asked if he has offers to return to the bench, he discussed his spell at Everton.
“I have won all the titles that can be won at club level, I have been promoted with Tenerife and Extremadura. I am not afraid of work. I had gone to Everton because I live in Liverpool, being an enemy, they attack you a lot more,” he said.
“I take a project where I can work with the quarry (youth system) and reach the level where you can strive, I would like to do it.
“There are teams that would never sign me because I have been in the rival. I couldn’t go to Barcelona… Atlético would be something else.
“What I would not do is spend five years in the middle of the table. The offers that I have had do not motivate me. I would like to take a project and try to take it to the maximum. What cannot be is that they tell you that they want to be second and then they cannot sign.”
