Report: Rafa Benitez rejects Napoli contract offer, could he be bound for Manchester?

For those hoping Rafa Benitez will stay at Napoli, you may want to go read something else, because the news isn't good: reports from Il Mattino's paper edition have the Spanish manager rejecting a new contract offer from Napoli, putting an already-cloudy future with the club even further in doubt.

It's bad news for the club, who are still hoping to tie Benitez to Naples for years yet to come, as Napoli have generally performed quite well under him even if there have been occasional setbacks like Sunday's loss to Torino. He's been building a solid platform for the club to grow with, and hopefully it's one that won't disintegrate from under everyone once he leaves.

The question is, though, where does Rafa go next? Il Mattino thinks he's waiting for Brendan Rodgers to get fired at Liverpool, but that doesn't seem likely. PSG have supposedly shown an interest in bringing him in, and Rafa would be hard-pressed to turn that kind of opportunity down if its presented. There's one team, though, that makes a whole lot of sense for Rafa in the short term that very few people are talking about.

Manchester City.

Think about it. Current City boss Manuel Pellegrini is under fire and nothing short of a title win will save his job at this point. They really want to get their hands on Pep Guardiola or Carlo Ancelotti to manage the club, but both have another year on their respective contracts and almost certainly won't be leaving Bayern Munich or Real Madrid before those contracts are up.

So who do Manchester City turn to in the interim? They don't have a ton of options in terms of available-and-also-very-good-at-winning managers for next season, but Rafa would be an excellent stopgap measure for them. Their side as it's currently built is very well-suited for his 4-2-3-1 formation and tactics, and he has a record of success in England with significantly fewer resources from his time at Liverpool.

Plus, once the season is over and he's replaced by Guardiola or Ancelotti or whatever managerial flavor of the month pops up in the interim, there should be a slew of good club managing posts available for him in Spain and England -- plus a very real possibility of the Spain national team job being open after Euro 2016. Rafa has supposedly long coveted the national team post in his home country, and a year with Manchester City would position himself well for it should he leave Napoli after this season.

Either way, it's looking more and more and more like Rafa is on his way out. It's a shame, because he could have built something great in Naples. Now we fans just have to wait and see if the man who replaces him can keep pulling the club upwards.