Lecturing football executives on the art of management, Rafa Benitez made a public pitch on Wednesday to be given the chance to work in the Premier League again.
Despite being out of work for 15 months, however, the former Liverpool manager made it clear he will only accept an offer from an English club that has enough money available to potentially become title winners.
Benitez had been a contender to replace Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea last month, but no formal offer was made. Roberto Di Matteo was promoted to manage the team until the end of the season.
''At this moment my priority is to stay in the Premier League, and I know that I can win. With my people and with my team, we can win trophies,'' Benitez said at the SoccerEx convention. ''When you have been at the top winning trophies, you have a lot of people working with you and you have a methodology - you think you can be successful again.''
Benitez has been out of work since being fired by Inter Milan in December 2010, only six months after the end of a six-year reign at Liverpool in which he won the Champions League and FA Cup.
''I am not desperate because I have had a lot of offers,'' Benitez said. ''But I am looking for a new job.''
Liverpool has struggled since Benitez left after the 2009-10 season, with current manager Kenny Dalglish under pressure despite winning the League Cup last month as his team is seventh in the Premier League.
Benitez still lives in the Liverpool area, adding to suggestions he could return to Anfield one day.
''There is no rush and if Kenny retires in 10 years' time and I am available, I will be really pleased,'' Benitez said. ''Not now because they have a manager with the support of the owners.''
For now, Benitez is promoting his coaching aid application for smart phones and computers. His SoccerEx presentation veered from being a sales pitch to reminding executives in the audience about his managerial credentials.
Responding to a question from the audience, he downplayed the significance of engaging in a war of words with rival managers in public.
''I don't think it's important or makes a big difference,'' Benitez said. ''You can win all the mind games but if you don't have a good team, you can't play mind games ... when you have a lot of foreign players, they don't usually read the papers. So the mind games for them are nothing.
''After all this work behind the scenes. you don't need to be worried about the mind games. You need to be worried about your job and the game.''
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Rob Harris can be reached at http://twitter.com/RobHarris
