Rafael Benítez believes he will keep shareholder backing at Everton
Rafael Benítez insists he has the full support of Farhad Moshiri and that Everton’s majority shareholder understands there will be no quick fix for the club’s malaise in the January transfer window.
Everton have not won in six matches and visit Brentford on Sunday without the long-term injury absentee Dominic Calvert-Lewin and his fellow first-choice striker Richarlison. The Brazil international is suspended after collecting five yellow cards in eight appearances this season. The joint leading goalscorer Demarai Gray is a major injury doubt.
Moshiri has shown little patience with managers during his erratic tenure but Benítez, who was visited at Everton’s training ground this week by the chairman, Bill Kenwright, believes the billionaire is acutely aware of the predicament his latest appointment inherited. Benítez, having spent £1.7m this summer because of Premier League profit and sustainability rules, is primed for another difficult window.
“I think Mr Moshiri is quite clever and we cannot complain because he has spent a lot of money,” he said. “He is someone who is trying to improve the team and improve the club in every sense. He wants to do well but he knows, from when we had conversations in the beginning, they have to support me and support the structure in general so that we can improve.
“All the conversations with him have been really positive. We talk about this all the time but we have to be realistic. If we analyse what happened in the summer window, and what will happen in the January window, it’s not easy to find exactly what you want but it is important to improve in the area where we think we need to improve.
“We have improved areas without spending money. I’m really pleased with that but you cannot expect, when not spending money, to be much better than the teams around you who are spending a lot of money. We have to be clever enough to find the players we will use in the right way but they will not be exactly the players who are top of the list for everyone because they will not be available. The players in the top sides want to play Champions League or the Europa League right now.”
Everton face Liverpool, Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Chelsea after Brentford and Benítez is confident Moshiri’s support will not waver in the event of a sustained downturn.
The manager, who could hand academy graduate Ellis Simms his Premier League debut, said: “I don’t want to be here for three years, I want to be here for even more. I want to be here for the new stadium and try to be successful there also. Mr Moshiri, he knows. We are bringing in some players who are doing well and we are also improving some players but we are missing a lot of important players and Mr Moshiri knows that.”