Benitez has spent this season on loan at Birmingham but McLeish was not keen to pay the £7million to make it a permanent deal.
McLeish told the Birmingham Mail: “We did have an agreement that the previous board put in place. Chucho (Benitez) did very well for us. I am sorry to lose him but the deal was just too rich for us.
“My task now is to find someone who can do a better job. I have got to try and find a player who can be even better than Chucho.”
