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Rafa Benitez offered four-year contract, considering Napoli stay

Despite a general assumption that he will leave the club at the end of the season, Rafa Benitez has been offered a new contract and might sign it.

Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images

This isn't the most pleasant news for many Napoli fans, so if you're one of them, well, sorry in advance: there's a very real chance that Rafa Benitez will stay at Napoli after being offered a four-year contract.

The offer comes after an hour-long meeting on Saturday between Rafa and Aurelio De Laurentiis that built on a couple weeks' worth of talks that saw the pair make progress in finding common ground for the future of the club. That culminated in De Luarentiis signing off on offering Benitez the contract, worth some €4 million per season.

The agreement hinges on several key promises from De Laurentiis to improve the club as a whole, including upgrading the training facilities and youth system, two projects that Napoli have already been working on. The academy improvements in particular that it's a little surprising that Rafa hasn't pushed for in the past, as building a strong youth system is something he's always tried to emphasize at past clubs.

The agreement hinges on Napoli's Champions League qualification, so there's probably still a long ways away from a resolution as the last few weeks of the season could go in any direction for the partenopei. The idea of Rafa staying at Napoli is one sure to cause something of a divide in the Napoli fanbase, with some fans serving as staunch reporters of the Spaniard while others want him out at any cost. It's going to be a bumpy ride as this all shakes out.