Could Nuno Espirito Santo still end up as Everton manager

It’s still perhaps a little early to be thinking about it but if Everton are humiliated by Liverpool tomorrow night, it could be that Rafa Benitez’s days really are numbered.

I’ve not been a fanatical cheerleader for Beneitez to lose his job recently and I think every reasonable Everton supporter would recognise that he is not ultimately responsible for the utter mess this football club is in.

He came in with the Toffees’ facing huge financial restrictions given all the past spending and the consequences of the Covid shutdowns. Those FFP rules made his job even tougher as he could only spend a tiny amount in the summer transfer window.

And, he was the sixth manager in five years since Farhad Moshiri took over while he was inheriting a squad full of underachieving players with major issues around the character of some players and the quality and depth in key positions such as in midfield and at right-back.

However, there have been disturbing signs recently that Benitez is either not that concerned or has effectively given up on this job and the players in his squad.

The past two games have produced signs that this is the case. Against both Manchester City and more worryingly during Sunday’s defeat at Brentford, Benitez didn’t make the changes that nearly everyone watching could see were necessary.

He may be thinking the writing is on the wall and that he will be the inevitable fall-guy for the chronic failures of the club going back years. Because of his history, he has no reservoir of goodwill to draw upon and he obviously knows he will very quickly become the focus for all the anger and frustration rightly felt by fans.

But, he’s not helping himself. At Brentford, he sat on his hands and failed to do anything positive after sending on Denarai Gray, to try and turn the game around even though the Blues’ were on top and creating chances.

Tomorrow night’s match against Liverpool is obviously a hugely pressured occasion for the Spaniard and to be honest I’m not sure I would swap places with him, even for his millions.

Defeat, especially if it’s a heavy one, could be the final straw. I don’t know if the axe will fall after the derby, even if Everton lose by four or five goals, which is not impossible. But, it will severely pile on the pressure and surely make his position increasingly untenable, at least with the majority of fans.

The club have a tough decision to make because while I’m sure they don’t want to have to make a change, they can’t risk the team being in free-fall for much longer with a run of very testing matches coming up, which you are hard pressed to see this side getting anything from.

They also need to decide if they are going to give Benitez whatever money is available in January or if they need to give a new man the time to assess the squad and make recommendations for new signings.

And, to add to the intrigue, one coach who apparently came close to getting the manager’s job at Goodison Park in the summer before Benitez was appointed, is now available and wants another Premier League job.

That is the former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo who ended up at Tottenham, which didn’t go to plan and he was sacked. Now, according to media reports today wants to get back to football management as soon as possible with England still his priority.

Santo did seem to be the frontrunner early in the summer after Carlo Ancelotti walked away and was probably close to getting the job before the club backed off.

I’m not entirely sure why, perhaps it was concerns about his close relationship with ‘super-agent’ Jorge Mendez potentially constraining what Everton could do in the transfer market.

To be honest I’m not sure Santo would be a good alternative. His football wasn’t the most entertaining at Wolves and was pretty negative at times, so is that much of an improvement? However, he did bring them up and get the Midlands side into Europe and of course he doesn’t have Benitez’s baggage to overcome.

But, regardless of that with time running out and a critical transfer window coming up, he might well become a candidate again if the board are forced to make a change.