The 60-year-old Spaniard, who took Liverpool to Champions
League glory in 2005, had been in charge of Dalian since July 2019.
“Unfortunately, like so many things in the last year,
Covid-19 has changed our lives and our projects,” the former Liverpool, Real
Madrid, Inter Milan, Napoli and Chelsea boss wrote on his website.
“From today, both my coaching staff and I will sadly no
longer be coaching the Dalian Professional F. C.
“It has been an incredible experience and for this I would
like to thank all my staff, coaches, medical and club staff, as well as our
players.
“Their commitment to us in the first place, their support
during the time we were there, and their effort has been magnificent.
“The pandemic is still here, for all of us, and supporting
our families has been a priority when making this decision.”
Benitez had one more season left on his estimated
12-million-pound-a-year ($16 million) contract at Dalian, in China’s northeast.
British media immediately linked the Spaniard, who is based
in Britain, with a return to the Premier League and Newcastle United, where he
was widely liked by fans but left as manager in June 2019 at the end of his
contract.
His replacement Steve Bruce has failed to win over Newcastle
fans and the team are 15th and on a poor run of form.
Benitez took Dalian, a fallen giant of Chinese football, to
ninth of 16 CSL teams in his first season.
Last season, in a campaign which was badly disrupted by the
coronavirus pandemic, they struggled badly at the start and looked in danger at
one point of relegation.
In the end, Benitez comfortably kept them up but he made no
attempt to hide his displeasure at the way the CSL was reorganised because of
the pandemic.
All CSL players and staff were kept in a virus-secure
“bubble” which meant they did not see their families for more than two months
in the first stage.
League placings were then decided by two-legged matches with
Dalian ending below mid-table.
In November, after ensuring Dalian’s place in next season’s
CSL — which begins in the spring — Benitez said the virus-revamped league made
“no sense”.
“This season, with the format of the competition, it doesn’t
matter where you finish, so it’s just so strange that I don’t care,” he said.
Benitez often explained Dalian’s lowly position by saying
his was the youngest squad in the CSL.
But he also had seasoned internationals Marek Hamsik, the
former Napoli skipper, and former Newcastle striker Salomon Rondon.
Penning his farewell, Benitez wrote: “Behind us, in China,
and especially in Dalian, we are leaving many friends and good memories in a
great city with very knowledgable fans.
“We have tried to learn and understand a new culture and
also to transmit a more professional, more European vision of football with a
new methodology.”
-AFP