Rafa Benítez finalizes his return to the League as coach and pillar of the Celta project

Rafa Benítez finalizes his return to LaLiga, specifically to the bench of Celta de Vigo. The conversations with the Galician club, which celebrates its centenary this 2023, are “very on track” and his signing could be announced throughout this week. The coach would lead the Spanish competition again eight years after he spent six months in charge of Real Madrid in 2015 and when 19 have passed since his departure from Valencia after winning the League and UEFA Cup double in 2004.

The key to the arrival of Benítez in Vigo is held by Luis Campos. The Portuguese, Celta and PSG sports adviser, first convinced Carlos Mouriño that the path to growth lay in signing a top-level coach after unsuccessfully trying to negotiate with Andoni Iraola and testing Marcelo Gallardo. The commitment to Carvahal did not go as expected with an agonizing permanence that made the project rethink.

The idea that Celta has transmitted to the Madrid coach's environment is that there is an ambitious growth plan led by top-level professionals and where the coach will participate. A path similar to that undertaken by Betis with Manuel Pellegrini or even Villarreal with Unai Emery in the last stage, which has led these clubs to win titles such as the Copa del Rey and to have a continuous presence in Europe.. “Without taking your feet off the ground,” sources from the environment warn, that is the mirror in which a classic LaLiga team looks.

The conditions that Benítez had set to sit on a bench again were explained in an interview with El Mundo last February. “My priority is to be able to be in a team in the Premier, in Spain, in Italy, Germany or France, the strongest leagues. But the projects that I would like are those in which you can work, develop the youth team and get performance from a medium-high level team to take it one step further.. It is what we did in Liverpool, in Naples or in Valencia. For that you need to be backed and supported not only financially, but at a structural level”. What Luis Campos and Carlos Mouriño have told him they want to do with Celta fits perfectly into this idea.

Working with stability and patience is something that the Madrid native values a lot. So much so that since his time at Everton ended with a bad taste in his mouth on June 22, he has received “between 18 and 20 offers”, including from Mexico, Asia or the Middle East that have not convinced him and have returned to appear at the end of this season. “But we have earned the right to decide. We do more in-depth analysis and, although there have been some interesting ones, they had a high risk that I don't need to assume,” he said.. Some contact with West Ham in recent weeks and the vacancy on the Napoli bench, already covered by Rudy García, were other options that have not materialized. To return to LaLiga, he had the option to do it to Sevilla after the dismissal of Julen Lopetegui, but it did not materialize.

Celta is now an appetizing project due to the opportunity that construction entails and the intention that the club has to take advantage of the year of its centenary. Benítez brings the knowledge he has never lost of LaLiga to an environment where he feels comfortable. Not surprisingly, Galicia has been his summer resort for years due to the family ties his wife has with Ourense.

The future of Gabri Veiga

One of the pillars of the project should be Gabri Veiga, but the youth squad's future is up in the air. The 40 million termination clause keeps him at Celta while he plays the European Under-21, but Liverpool and Chelsea have already set their sights on a footballer who has changed representatives in recent weeks to join Pini Zahavi.

If he stays, Celta would keep a growing player. But the option for him to leave should not be an impediment for the new project, which could be rearmed with the 40 million that it would leave in the Celtic box. Reconstruction is Benítez's specialty: he did it in Valencia, making Liverpool Spanish and taking advantage of the sale of Cavani in Naples to attract Higuaín or Callejon, who gave a great performance.