Manchester City will make the top four for the fifth season in a row ensuring that the Sky Blues will be competing in the Champions League once again. But for a club which won the Premier League just last year City directors have seen their squads complete failure to retain the title too much to bare and it is manager Manuel Pellegrini who may be facing the axe. Strangely enough the name being mentioned as his replacement hasn’t even coached a team in Europe’s top competition for the last four years let alone ever won the Premier League.

Rafa Benitez is well known in England after stints managing both Liverpool and Chelsea, but would he want to be the next City boss when every season he is expected to win trophies? The 55-year-old has spent the last two seasons at Italy’s Napoli with this campaign’s aim being to make it into the Europa League spots. That is a world away from the demands he would have in the Blue half of Manchester so why is he even a consideration?

There are reports that Manchester City want to appoint the Spaniard on a temporary basis until the manager that they really want becomes available. That manager is of course Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola who has publically stated that he will still be at the German champions next season.

Benitez is said to be alright with this short-term deal and has refused to renew his contract with Napoli in anticipation of signing with City.

Benitez did win the Europa League with Chelsea in 2013 during his six months as interim manager so he does have a history of making short assignments work for him though Blues supporters were unhappy he had even been signed in the first place considering his association with top four rivals Liverpool. So how will Manchester City fans feel to have a manger who has been at both of these clubs becoming their boss even if just for a restricted time frame?

It makes more sense for City to stick with Manuel Pellegrini for another year and then target Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti or whoever it is that they have their hopes set on.

City rivals Manchester United had no option but to change managers when Sir Alex Ferguson retired and the ill-advised appointment of David Moyes and resulting slide down the Premier League table should serve as a warning for City. Stability is so important and that is especially true for bigger clubs who rely heavily on attracting top players by finishing in the Champions League places.

If City sign Benitez and he has a bad first half of the season you would think that they’d jump ship again. Or would they risk ending the season with only a Europa League campaign to look forward to?

You’d expect that a change would be made and that could lead to numerous problems especially if they don’t even get the manager they want at the end of it. A bad campaign can set a club back for a few years and you only have to look at how except for their previous season’s heroics Liverpool have struggled for relevance in England and Europe. City need to learn to have patience before their rush for glory becomes their undoing.

[ad_pod id=’ricco’ align=’center’]