The English football club Liverpool has parted company with manager Rafa Benitez, ending the Spaniard's six-year rollercoaster reign at Anfield.
The Premier League club's board signalled the 50-year-old's departure when it approved a payoff, reported by British media to be around $6.5 million, despite agreeing a five-year contract in March last year.
According to the terms of that deal Benitez would have been entitled to a severance package of around 16 million pounds but Liverpool, burdened by debt and financially impoverished, would have struggled to pay him off in full.
The severance paves the way for a possible move into the Inter Milan job vacated by Jose Mourinho after winning the Champions League with Inter last month.
Benitez's departure, after a hugely successful start at Liverpool in 2004-05 when they won the Champions League, comes as little surprise after they finished seventh in the Premier League in the season just ended, their lowest position since 1999.
