West Ham are monitoring Rafa Benitez’s future at Newcastle with a view to potentially replacing Slaven Bilic as manager at the end of the season, reports The Daily Mirror.
The Hammers are not necessarily looking to sack Bilic but have shelved contract talks until next January at the very earliest following what has been a difficult campaign for the east London outfit.
West Ham failed in their pursuit of Benitez back in 2015 before eventually handing the job to Bilic after the Spaniard was made Real Madrid manager in a shock appointment.
Benitez only lasted six months before finishing last season at Newcastle but the 56-year-old’s future at St. James’ Park is far from certain despite the fact the Magpies are poised to earn promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
His relationship with owner Mike Ashley has been far from perfect this season and it would seem that Newcastle’s summer recruitment plans will all but decide whether Benitez remains at the club having been unhappy with broken promises in the transfer market this season.
In Benitez’s 55 matches in charge of Newcastle he has won an impressive 55.6% of those (31).
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