Sampdoria President wants Rafa Benitez to lose weight if he wants to manage the club

Rafael Benitez

Massimo Ferro, President of Italian club Sampdoria, said that Napoli manager Rafael Benitez would need to slim down if he wants to manage the Genoa-based club. Benitez has been linked with the Sampdoria hot seat to replace manager Sinisa Mihajlovic.

Ferro joked that he would take the Spaniard to the dietician before hiring him.

“I could take Benitez, but I'd have to take him to see a dietitian first,” the club President said.

“I don’t know anything about Mihajlovic leaving”

He said that if current manager, Mihajlovic, was to leave, he knew exactly who he wanted while ruling out FC Basel coach Paulo Sousa.

“As far as I am concerned, he's staying. If he were to leave, I'd know who to replace him with. Paulo Sousa's not going to be Sampdoria's next coach, it will be [Italian comedy actor] Lino Banfi.

“Anyway, if Mihajlovic does leave, I've already got a replacement. You all say he's leaving, even if I don't know anything about it.”

Rafael Benitez’s contract with Napoli expires at the end of the season and despite fans wanting him to stay, reports link the former Liverpool boss with a return to the Premier League as a successor to Manchester City boss, Manuel Pellegrini. Some murmurs also indicate an emotional return to the Anfield dugout for the 55-year-old.

The Napoli manager is an extremely loved figure at Liverpool, having guided them to Champions League glory in 2005 apart from lifting the FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2006. He narrowly missed out on the title in 2009 and left England a season later, but his proximity with the families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster has resulted in him still being revered as a cult figure at Merseyside.

After leaving England, Benitez had an unsuccessful spell at Inter Milan, before managing Chelsea on an interim basis, guiding them to Europa League glory.

If he does join Sampdoria, this will be the Madrid-born manager’s fourth club in 5 seasons since leaving the 5-time European champions, Liverpool, back in 2010.