Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez’s continued annoyance at not being given the money he wants this summer, has seen his odds shorten to be first Premier League manager to leave this season.
Benitez has spent £30million this summer, but has missed out on a host of targets and is far from happy with how his summer transfer plans have gone.
“When I decided to stay, I was expecting another thing,” said Benitez.
“Now we are where we are. I decided to stay because of a lot of positive things I could see, starting with the fans.
“I will try to do my best to be sure that the team we have will be good enough to compete and stay as high as we can in the Premier League.”
Benitez is now 6/1, second favourite behind Stoke boss Mark Hughes, who has emerged as favourite in recent weeks.
We spoke to BetVictor’s Head of antepost Football Michael Triffitt about the market on the first Premier League boss to depart.
“The first manager to go market is always a fascinating one and this season is no exception with all bar four of the Premier League managers attracting support during the summer,” he told TheGamblingTimes.com.
“Stoke gaffer Mark Hughes has proved most popular and after opening at 20/1 has been steadily supported into 3/1 favourite recently. Stoke have had a quiet transfer summer and with a difficult set of early fixtures and fans starting to become restless Hughes may be vulnerable.
“Rafa Benitez at Newcastle started the summer moaning and to an extent this has continued as the weeks unfold. He is obviously very frustrated with the lack of transfer activity and the whole transfer window in general but after a positive recent fans forum seems more settled and eagerly awaiting the start of battle.
“He is a 6/1 chance but we are happy to lay that. Also at 6/1 is West Ham manager Slaven Bilic who was backed several times at relatively short odds last season to depart but with the owners there staying loyal he still remains for now although a start of three away games will be testing for the Hammers.
“Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare steadied the ship impressively last term when the Foxes looked to be heading into the Championship but is only 8/1 . Leicester face big clubs early and a bad start may well see an impatient and unloyal board act quickly so he too may soon find pressure mounting. Its 10/1 bar those four and in a very volatile market it doesn’t take much for the slightest, sometimes innocent actions, to dramatically change the market.”