Newcastle United fan favourite Rafa Benitez claims that the club could have had new owners while he was manager.
The Spaniard, who left Tyneside to join Chinese club Dalian Yifang, has been overseeing a pre-season training camp in Spain, and spoke to newspaper AS about why he left the Premier League.
Asked if the last year has been a 'stage of reflection', Benitez replied: "We had a stage of reflection in Newcastle, because a sale could have occurred and a new project emerged.
"In Newcastle we were close to home (his family lives in Liverpool) and that change entailed a strong financial commitment.
"But it did not arise and the previous project had shown that it did not want to grow because it had not made the necessary investment.
"Then this project was born in China, which has a great investment.
"Behind the club is Wanda, the world's leading construction company, which wants and puts many means to improve football in Dalian.
"They have an elite sports city.
"In it they have invested 200 million euros."
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