RAFAEL BENITEZ has been confirmed as the new manager of Chinese side Dalian Yifang.

The former Newcastle United boss, whose contract with the Magpies officially ended last Sunday, has signed a £12m-a-year deal to move to China, more than doubling his previous wage at St James’ Park.

He is joined in the Far East by Francisco ‘Paco’ de Miguel Moreno, Mikel Antia and Antonio Gomez Perez, three of the key backroom figures that also worked alongside him on Tyneside.

With the Chinese season running from February to November, Benitez has moved to China halfway through the campaign, and joins a Dalian Yifang side currently sitting in tenth position in the Chinese Super League, having claimed 17 points from 15 matches.

He will be reunited with his former Napoli captain, Marek Hamsik, who is Dalian’s star player, and will also find himself managing Belgian forward Yannick Carrasco.

Benitez previously turned down a number of offers to move to China, preferring to remain in England close to his family base on the Wirral, but he opted to join Dalian after concluding he could no longer work under Newcastle owner Mike Ashley.