Napoli Appoints Rafa Benitez As New Manager

Napoli has appointed Rafa Benitez as its new manager just days after former boss Walter Mazzarri left the club to join Inter.

The ex-Chelsea interim coach led the Blues to the Europa League title earlier in May but leaves London to presumably make way for Jose Mourinho‘s expected return to Stamford Bridge.

Benitez has penned a two-year deal with Napoli and the club released a statement on its website welcoming the Spaniard to southern Italy.

“Rafa Benitez is the new manager of Napoli. The agreement was signed today in London. Napoli is happy to welcome a coach so prestigious to its own family.”

This will be Benitez’s second tour of duty in Serie A after he coached Inter for six months at the start of the 2010 season. He led Inter to the Club World Cup in December but was sacked at the end of that same month after giving president Massimo Moratti an ultimatum.

Benitez will be hoping his second stint in Italy goes a lot smoother and revealed that he is relishing the challenge at Napoli.

“Now that the agreement is confirmed, I can say that I’m very happy and very satisfied for having committed to a great club with an illustrious heritage like Napoli,” he said.

“I must confess that I am extremely excited because I can share my passion with the fans of Napoli. We will begin from the start as we mean to go on and will fight from the beginning to achieve success for the fans of Napoli.”

Benitez also revealed that he will take his backroom staff from his days at Liverpool and Inter with him to Napoli.

Napoli has appointed Rafa Benitez as its new manager and hopes he can replicate the success he has had overseas and lead the club to its first Serie A title since 1990.