MIKE ASHLEY has dismissed the possibility of Amanda Staveley completing a successful takeover of Newcastle United, amid claims that talks with the North Yorkshire financier were “exhausting, frustrating and a complete waste of time”.

Ashley claims there is “no deal under discussion” with Staveley or her PCP Capital Partners group, even though sources close to the businesswoman continue to insist that a formal offer worth around £250m remained on the table until this evening.

Newcastle United remains up for sale, although with no other interested parties anywhere close to completing a deal, it now looks inevitable that Ashley will remain in charge for at least the rest of the season.

Where that leaves Rafael Benitez’s hopes of adding to his squad during the current transfer window remains to be seen, although Ashley is understood to be willing to support the acquisition of two or three players before the end of the month. However, those signings are likely to be loan deals, and could prove difficult to broker given that Premier League clubs will be understandably reluctant to lose players currently featuring in their first team.

Tonight’s dramatic developments came more than three months after Staveley first declared an interest in buying Newcastle, with Ashley having formally put the club on the market on October 16.

Having invested more than £250m since agreeing to take over from former Newcastle owner Sir John Hall in 2007, Ashley is understood to have been demanding around £350m in order to sell.

The exact size of Staveley’s initial offer has never been officially disclosed, but talks stalled at the end of last year when Ashley rejected the approach. That bid is believed to have contained a series of clauses, including a demand that Ashley repaid some of the money in the event of relegation.

Staveley’s representatives claim a second offer of around £250m was submitted without any clauses, but there have been growing concerns in the last few weeks that talks had stalled and were going nowhere.

Ashley is known to have become frustrated at suggestions that he was holding things up, when in fact he was questioning the strength of Staveley’s desire to complete a deal. Tonight, it appears as though his patience finally snapped.

A source close to Ashley has been widely quoted as saying: “It is only right to let the fans know that there is no deal on the table or even under discussion with Amanda Staveley and PCP. Attempts to reach a deal have proved to be exhausting, frustrating and a complete waste of time.”

Staveley entered into a non-disclosure agreement with Newcastle in the autumn, having completed a formal process of due diligence, and was championed by supporters as a potential way of removing Ashley from the club.

However, she never reached the point of entering into a period of exclusivity that might have enabled her to complete a successful buyout, and it was never clear exactly where the funds for a takeover were going to come from.

At one stage, it was suggested that Saudi Arabian money could be used to fund a purchase, while at others, China was mentioned as a possible source of finance. It was even claimed that Staveley would be willing to invest some of her own personal fortune, estimated at between £100m-170m, into the club.

Both sides initially expressed a hope that a deal could be concluded before the end of last year, and Staveley is understood to have raised the possibility of releasing finance ahead of an agreement in order to allow Benitez to make signings during this month’s transfer window.

That never happened, and while a face-to-face meeting with Ashley at a London curry house raised hopes of an impending breakthrough, the festive period arrived without any meaningful progress.

That set alarm bells ringing in the Newcastle boardroom, and while the drip-feeding of information via some London-based media sources might have continued to raise the hopes of the fans, Ashley and his closest advisors grew increasingly sceptical about the likelihood of a deal.

Staveley, who is believed to be working in New York this week, could still opt to make further contact in an attempt to rekindle a deal, but last night’s developments appear to signal the end of her interest in Newcastle. She previously failed to engineer a takeover of Liverpool while working for a Dubai-based consortium.

Ashley will now instruct Lee Charnley to focus his attention on the final two weeks of the transfer window, with Benitez keen to sign a goalkeeper, left-back and centre-forward.

The Newcastle boss has ruled out a renewed approach for former Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, but is considering making a new offer to Sparta Prague for Slovakia international Martin Dubravka.

Newcastle officials raised the possibility of signing Dubravka on loan last week, only for their counterparts in the Czech Republic to rule out such a deal. However, Benitez may now be able to offer a larger loan fee or even countenance a permanent contract for the 29-year-old shot-stopper.

He had hoped to sign Kenedy to provide an option at left-back, but Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is reluctant to lose the Brazilian, who is expected to start his side’s FA Cup third-round replay with Norwich City this evening.

As a result, Benitez is looking elsewhere, with Crystal Palace’s Pape Souare having emerged as an option. Souare has only made three senior appearances since his involvement in a serious car accident sidelined him for the majority of last season, and with Patrick van Aanholt and Jeffrey Schlupp ahead of the left-back in the Selhurst Park pecking order, Roy Hodgson may allow him to leave on loan until the end of the season.