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Football London
Football London
Sport
Connor O'Neill & Josh Challies

What Rafa Benitez has said about a Premier League return amid links to Arsenal and West Ham

Rafa Benitez has ruled a return to the Premier League in the immediate - but has admitted he would one day like to return.

Both Arsenal and West Ham have been linked with Benitez in recent weeks, with the Gunners looking for a new boss after sacking Unai Emery at the end of November.

While Manuel Pellegrini is under increasing pressure at West Ham following a poor run of domestic form, although their win over Chelsea has last weekend has appeared to bring him more time to turn things around.

West Ham v Arsenal: Manuel Pellegrini press conference in full

And Benitez, who is currently managing Dalian Yifang in the Chinese Super League, has revealed there is no chance he will return to England until his current contract expiress.

“In the future, I would like to come back to the Premier League because I like the league but at the moment, I can be very clear, there is no chance that I will come back now because I’m really happy, really pleased, they trust me and we have a lot of staff working in a big, big project," the Spaniard told Monday Night Football.

“People will say that the league is different and yes, it is another level, but Wanda, who is behind Dalian Yifang, is a massive company and they want to change everything.

"They want to create a structure. We are in charge of kids from six-years-old until the first-team.

"We want to leave a legacy so it is a challenge for me. I am learning a lot and it is a great experience. I’m quite happy at the moment."

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