Cautious Rafa wrong man for PSG superstars

WITH a sense of timing for which he is famed, Rafa Benitez is being linked with jobs at Paris saint-Germain and Marseille, just when talks on his future at Newcastle have stalled. Benitez is an excellent manager who has done a fine job in trying circumstances at Newcastle. He would be a great asset at Marseille, a club playing catch up in France, but with the resources to mount a serious challenge to second place if not first. PsG are a different proposition. This is a club that has spent hundreds of millions on attacking flair. even if their loftiest ambitions have been thwarted, would they buy into Benitez’s pragmatic approach to the biggest challenges? This is the irony: Newcastle with the ambition of Marseille would be the perfect fit for Benitez. NOT that Raheem Sterling doesn’t merit individual recognition, but it was preposterous that he should collect Young Player of the Year from the Professional Footballers’ Association. Sterling is 24, has played 316 games across eight seasons and is one cap short of 50 for England. In football terms, he’s anything but young. If the award is to have meaning, there must be limits: fewer than 75 starts, less than 10 international appearances. Declan Rice is a logical Young Player of the Year, or David Brooks of Bournemouth. Sterling’s recognition trivialises an important acknowledgement.