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BENITEZ CHASES CHELSEA

After his move to Italy football in the summer, Rafa Benitez has tried to sign a couple of his former players from Chelsea. It was rumoured that he was interested in bringing Juan Mata to Napoli, but that would never materialised and the Spaniard has since gone to Manchester United for a club record fee of £ 37.1 million. This deal has surprised many since Mata has been one of the best players for Chelsea in the last two years. This is also the opinion of Benitez, who says that he would have never sold in the 25-year-old.

Benitez is an admirer of Mata after having played him in most of the matches when he was at Chelsea. The 25-year-old, though, never got a look in under the new management of Jose Mourinho, who has been involved in a war of words with Benitez for several years. The rivalry has been resumed after Benitez commented that Mourinho was wrong in deciding to sell the player of Mata’s quality to one of the main rivals. Eden Hazard has been made as the main man under Mourinho. The Belgian international has started in every Premier league match up until now.

Benitez won the Europa league with Chelsea last season, but Mourinho hit back saying that he does not want to win the second rated European competition.

“I am not here to talk about Chelsea. But Juan was their best player in the last two years. That is it. You can see that, but I am not here to analyse what they did,” said Benitez ahead of his return to England. He is coming back with his Napoli team, who play against Swansea in the Europa league. Napoli have dropped into this competition after finishing third in their Champions League group despite finishing with 12 points.

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

Inter Milan’s coach Walter Mazzarri has received the dreaded vote of confidence from the president after a poor run of results has seen the club slip out of contention for the top three. Only the top three teams in the Italian league qualify for the Champions League next season. Since the 1-0 win over AC Milan, Inter have been very poor and it has seen them slip several points behind Napoli in the third place. There are unlikely to make the vast points difference in the remaining matches of the season. Mazzarri, who was appointed by former president Massimo Moratti, is in danger of losing his job.

Just before any manager is sacked, they usually receive a vote of confidence from the board or the president. It has happened with Mazzarri as well, as president Erick Thohir says that the club are fully behind the manager despite not having won in 2014. The club has won just eight of the last 22 league matches, while they also suffered an embarrassing defeat in the last 16 of the Coppa Italia. There have been rumours that the club are considering a change in management in order to improve their fortunes. However, this vote of confidence from Thohir is likely to keep Mazzarri in the job at least for the next few weeks.

“After the close of the January transfer window and the game in Turin, I feel it is appropriate for me to outline our sports strategy. We are going through a transition year and our main aim is to lay the foundations for our future: this is a difficult season and clearly it is not easy to find another winning combination like the one we had a few years ago. I will sit down and discuss with him which players possess the necessary qualities and motivation to remain with us,” said the president.

JUVE ON TOP

Juventus are once more at the top of the Italian league Serie A, As.Roma had started the season in a superb way as they went undefeated for a large amount of matches but a number of draws against Ac.Milan, Atalanta, Torino and Sassuolo allowed Juventus not only to catch up but also to surpass at the top spot of the league.

With the transfer window opened most clubs from around all leagues are dying to secure a player that can solve some of their weaknesses. Chelsea needs a decent striker, Manchester United is in need of a midfielder, Ac.Milan wants an entire new team.

But looking at Juventus and their top notch squad there isn’t much improvement that needs to be done. The side of Antonio Conte is the club that has scored more goals than any other in Serie A and at the same time is one the squad’s which has conceded fewer goals.

Even at his fairly elevated age, Gianluigi Buffon is still regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world and still has a few more seasons that he can surely perform at his usual world class level. Meanwhile on the midfield Arturo Vidal has been a breakthrough player and a perfect teammate for the architect Andrea Pirlo.

The attacking department of the team is also fairly well rounded with Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente leading the way for the squad.

There has been however rumors about some players that might be leaving Juventus which is the case of Giovinco and Martin Caceres who has attracted the attention of Roma and Napoli but other than that, there really isn’t anything that Conte has to worry about.

The only player that has sparked the interest of Juventus is Luis Nani who is not enjoying any playing time in Manchester United and the Italian team could be tempted to make a move for the Winger but at the current situation that Juventus is in right now, their squad is good enough to secure the Scudetto.

WHERE NEXT?

There has been a lot of speculation about the future of Cesare Prandelli as the national team manager of Italy. It is rumoured that Prandelli is ready to step down from his role at the end of the 2014 World Cup, as he is keen to enter into club football once again. The former Roma and Fiorentina manager is one of the most wanted men in football. The likes of Juventus are interested in hiring him, but Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Giancarlo Abete has confirmed that he wants to keep Prandelli beyond the 2014 World Cup.

Prandelli has done extremely well in his role as the Italian national team manager. Italy were in a poor state when he took over in 2010, but it has managed to guide them to the finals of the Euro 2012. He has also reduced the age of the squad during this period. Italy also came close to winning the Confederations cup in the summer. After three years at the international level, Prandelli is thought to miss club football that involves day-to-day work. Abete, though, has said that he is very happy with the work done by Prandelli so far and he would like to retain him beyond the 2014 World Cup.

“I like a lot of coaches. However, I like Prandelli more than anyone else. I hope that he stays as the head coach after Brazil 2014. If our relationship doesn’t continue then I won’t speak with any other coaches until Prandelli’s departure is made official,” Abete told Sky Sport. “There is no truth in the thinking that we are looking for a new coach. The Cesare Prandelli rumours are without foundation,” said Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta in response to the rumours linking Juventus with a move for Cesare Prandelli after the World Cup.