Rafa Benitez says Everton promised him ‘massive project’ but he only had £2m to spend

Rafa Benitez believed he was signing up for a ‘massive project’ at Everton before discovering he only had £2million to spend on new players – but the Spaniard has no bitterness towards the club that fired him after just six months.

The former Liverpool, Newcastle United and Chelsea coach signed a three-year contract at Goodison Park to replace Carlo Ancelotti at the beginning of this season.

The Toffees won three of their first four Premier League games as anger at Benitez’s appointment among the fanbase quickly dissipated.

Rafael Benitez was sacked by Everton after just six months in the job following a dreadful run

The team’s form nosedived and Benitez paid the price with his job back in January

But Everton’s season quickly went downhill amid injuries to key players, insufficient depth of quality in the squad and a lack of faith in Benitez’s methods and tactics.

He was fired in mid-January with Everton 15th in the table, six points above the relegation zone, having lost nine of their previous 13 games.

After an outlay of over £500m on new signings since Farhad Moshiri took over the club in 2016, Benitez arrived last summer to discover he had no money to spend.

Asked in an interview with The Athletic whether he was aware of this, he said: ‘No. No, no, no, no, no. At the beginning, it was a massive project with the potential to spend some money.

‘It changed when we couldn’t sell players. It’s difficult when people are on big contracts and nobody wants to buy them, so we didn’t have that option.

‘We signed five players for less than £2m and we worked with what we had.’

Some in the Everton fanbase were opposed to the former Liverpool boss being appointed 

More and more supporters turned against Benitez as Everton slipped into relegation trouble

Benitez, who led Liverpool to Champions League success in 2005, was targeted by Everton fans angry the club had appointed someone with Anfield connections. A banner reading ‘we know where you live’ was found near his home.

And his career CV ultimately came back to haunt Benitez when the fans turned on him during the dreadful run of results that led to his sacking.

‘In personal terms, Everton was quite difficult for me. But as a professional, I was fully concentrated and always trying to do my best. That’s the main thing,’ he said.

‘I knew it was impossible to change the situation, so you have to deal with it.’

Asked if he was taken aback by the hostility of the fans, Benitez added: ‘At the end, yes. I was really pleased with the support at the beginning, but yes, I was surprised because we were giving everything.

‘But I cannot control the emotions of other people. The only thing I can do is give the message that we were doing our best, we were unlucky with injuries, we didn’t have much support in the transfer window in terms of money — you can see the numbers — and that all the teams around us were all spending more money.

Benitez’s past connections with Liverpool, where he won the Champions League back in 2005, were held against him by Everton fans

It now falls to Frank Lampard to steer Everton away from relegation in the closing weeks

‘It was very difficult to improve without that help.’

Despite the acrimonious end to his time at Goodison Park, Benitez says he ‘genuinely hopes’ Frank Lampard can steer Everton to safety. They are 17th and just one point ahead of Burnley ahead of Sunday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield.

Everton do retain a game in hand on the Clarets, however, which could potentially prove crucial.

Benitez added: ‘They signed five new players in January and all the key injured players were back and although people like to compare, in reality, it was like a new Everton team. Everyone has to take their own responsibility.’