Rafa Benitez 'agreed West Ham terms before joining Real Madrid'

Rafa Benitez was on the brink of being named the new West Ham manager earlier this summer, the club’s co-chairman David Sullivan has claimed.

Sullivan says the former Liverpool and Chelsea boss was just hours away from signing terms with the Hammers, but performed a U-turn in favour of an "emotional" return to the Spanish capital.

Madrid-born Benitez, who started his coaching career with Real's youth academy in 1986, returned two decades after leaving the Bernabeu as Carlo Ancelotti's successor on a three-year deal in June.

The Spaniard's decision to snub a return to the Premier League with the Upton Park outfit saw the club appoint former fans' favourite Slaven Bilic as their new boss.

"Rafa Benitez was within three hours of signing for us," Sullivan told the Evening Standard.

"Every clause in his contract was agreed and then he went to Real Madrid. It was a real blow because he is a really experienced manager in England and done really well in Italy. 

Rafa Benitez was within three hours of signing for us.

"We had an agreement in place but you have to pick yourself up, look who else is available and pick the best you can. 

"Whoever you take is a gamble. The bottom line is we have a manager. He has our 100 per cent support. We will support him in the transfer market. We like him."

Sullivan also revealed the circumstances behind former manager Sam Allardyce's departure from Upton Park.

The Hammers announced Allardyce's contract would not be renewed just minutes after he lost against former club Newcastle on the final day of the season.

Sullivan continued in the Evening Standard: "We had a meeting the previous summer and Sam said to us, 'I have got the worst job in the world.' And we said, 'What do you mean Sam? What's wrong with West Ham?'

"And he said, 'It's not West Ham, it's being a football manager. It is the most demanding, tiring, horrible job.' And I thought, 'This man needs a break if that's how you feel earning £3m-£3.5m a year'. So by the end of the season, he needed a break. 

"We kept all our options open until the end to make a final decision based on the form of the season. Maybe we should have told him privately he was going. I don't know. But we hadn't really made our minds up. It all depended on the results in the last 10 games."