BLUES PUT MOURINHO ON THEIR RADAR
seven losses and two draws in their last 10 Premier League games.
There were boos throughout the game and fury at the final whistle from the home supporters, who directed their anger towards both the manager and the board.
Co-owner Farhad Moshiri has publicly backed Benitez since – but the dreaded vote of confidence will only last so long if results don’t improve.
To complicate matters further, Everton are sweating over their January spending allowance.
The Toffees want to give Benitez an immediate helping hand in the transfer market and have approached the Premier League for answers.
They want to know how much they can spend without falling foul of Financial Fair Play regulations but are not hopeful of positive news.
Everton were on the wrong end of the rules during the summer when Benitez took the hot seat.
They spent just £1.8million on Demarai Gray from Bayer Leverkusen and added four free transfers.
Splurge
But they are paying the price for a massive summer splurge two years ago and, in their last accounts, a loss of £139.9m highlighted the problem.
Benitez commented that the rules ‘killed’ the club last summer and the Spaniard has come under fire for those incomings although, Gray apart, all were stop-gap imports.
With the punishment a possible points deduction, any overspend is the last thing that Benitez needs ahead of a pre-christmas schedule that includes fixtures against both Arsenal and Chelsea.
Festive-sesaon misery may persuade Moshiri and Co to part company with Benitez, and then former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham manager Mourinho’s availability will be looked into.
The 58-year-old has only been at Roma for five months but cracks have begun to appear.
He has moaned about his squad depth and been particularly vocal about some of the officiating in Serie A.
Mourinho has made no secret of the fact that the Premier League is where he feels most at home.