Rafa Benitez contract talks put on hold as focus shifts to securing Newcastle survival

Talks about extending Rafa Benitez’s contract at Newcastle have been put on hold until the club knows which division it will be playing in next season.

Club bosses are keen to tie Benitez down to a longer deal with his existing £6m-a-year contract due to expire at the end of next season.

Provisional talks were opened in January, aimed at securing the former Liverpool and Real Madrid manager’s future at St James’ Park.

There is a desire to extend the three-year deal he signed in the close season of 2016, following a 10-game spell in charge that could not save Newcastle from relegation to the Championship.

However, Benitez now wants to focus on keeping the club in the Premier League and if that is achieved he will discuss his future. By then he will have 12 months left on his contract but the recent signs are that there is a willingness on both sides to negotiate an extension.

Perhaps crucially there is no suggestion from either camp that they want the relationship, which has galvanised the club, to end.

Benitez has been left frustrated during the last three transfer windows. He believed more finances should have been made available to spend following promotion as champions in the summer of 2016, when Newcastle signed six players for an initial total of around £40m

Similarly in January there were difficulties when the proposed move for the Danish striker Nicola Jorgensen did not materialise. However Newcastle did make three loan signings at the end of the window, and by that point Benitez was in conversation with the owner Mike Ashley following a significant thawing of relations. Benitez has been keen for this line of communication to open.

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Benitez has seen two of those signings - who were recommended by his scouting department - flourish, in Kenedy and Martin Dubravka. Indeed a deal is already in place to make the signature of the Slovakian goalkeeper a permanent one for just £4m at the end of the season.

Two crucial home victories against Manchester United and Southampton have eased relegation worries. Newcastle are now five points above the relegation zone with a superior goal difference to those at the bottom of the table.

In a statement released in May last year, following meetings between Benitez and Ashley at Shirebrook, the Newcastle owner said his manager could have “every last penny the club generates through promotion, player sales and other means”.

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It was key in a problematic summer but it is thought Benitez will have greater financial clout in the transfer market this time, something he will seek assurances on, with the club on a firmer financial footing and with a full 12 months of revenue from the television deal behind them.

Benitez, who has won 13 trophies in his managerial career, had previously been approached by clubs in China and had been linked to the West Ham job, before David Moyes was appointed.

He is not keen to leave England, with his family based in the Wirral, a factor that was important in him succeeding Steve McClaren in 2016. His relationship with Newcastle’s supporters remains strong and he has plans to develop Newcastle’s academy, which further point towards him staying at St James’ Park for the foreseeable future.