Revealed: The real hurdle to West Ham appointing Benitez
West Ham will need to convince Rafael Benitez at the third time of asking if he is to become their new manager, Football Insider has learned.
The 59-year-old Spaniard is on the wanted list of the Hammers hierarchy as they assess possible candidates to replace Manuel Pellegrini.
An West Ham source has told Football Insider that the hierarchy have great admiration for Benitez and are keen to sound him out again after two previous attempts in the past.
They were close to appointing the Spaniard before he joined Real Madrid in 2015 and attempted to lure him away from Newcastle United last year before hiring Pellegrini.
The source explained that Benitez was left feeling the club are not able to tempt him with the terms he wants.
That is the real hurdle to him taking over from Pellegrini, rather than his current post at Chinese club Dalian Yifang.
Benitez would be eager to return to the Premier League for the right post, but West Ham would have to go far beyond where they went during the two rounds of talks before.
Pellegrini's position has been discreetly discussed at board level following a dreadful run of results that's left the club in 17th place in the Premier League table and in danger of getting sucked into a relegation level.
As revealed by Football Insider on Monday, West Ham have no immediate plans to axe Pellegrini and he is set to remain in charge for Saturday's trip to Chelsea and next Wednesday's visit to Wolves.
Should the Hammers lose both of those games, it is likely the club will look to pull the plug on the Chilean's reign.
David Moyes is another standout candidate for the post, and co-chairman David Sullivan remains an admirer of him, but there is a feeling he would prefer the Everton post.