RAFAEL BENITEZ will only sign a new long-term contract with Newcastle United if the club’s hierarchy prove their ambitions match his own, and has identified winning a trophy as his key goal on Tyneside.

Benitez’s future has been thrust into the spotlight in the last 24 hours, with Arsene Wenger’s decision to leave Arsenal at the end of the season having seen the Newcastle boss heavily linked with a possible move to the Emirates.

With just over a year of his current contract to run, Benitez will hold talks with Mike Ashley once the season is over. The Magpies owner is keen to tie him down to a new deal, but having been disappointed with a lack of activity in the last two transfer windows, Benitez will seek some cast-iron assurances about the level of support he can expect to receive before he commits his long-term future to St James’ Park.

Sources close to the Spaniard continue to insist he is happy on Tyneside and has no desire to leave his current position despite the possibility of interest from a number of quarters this summer. But while he regards a potential top-ten finish as a decent enough achievement in the current campaign, he has much loftier ambitions for the future.

“The situation is very clear,” said Benitez, ahead of Monday night’s televised trip to Everton. “When I decided to come here, I could see the potential of this massive club and the ambitions of the fans.

“I can feel this passion after two successful years here. I know the ambition of the fans, and now I need to know the ideas of the club and whether we share the same ambitions. I would like to talk (with Ashley) as soon as possible, but I want to concentrate on the games at the same time.

“In terms of the club, it is very clear that we have to start talking about ideas for the future. You need to know how much money is available, and then what can you do with that. We are competing against clubs with big resources, so we have to make sure we are on the same page. I don’t want to waste too much time talking about that though.

“They know my ideas and we know what every single fan is expecting. My idea when I came here was to be at least in the top ten, then to compete to try to win the League Cup, FA Cup or maybe the Europa League. That is still my idea now.”

Brendan Rodgers is the early favourite in most bookmakers’ markets to replace Wenger, but Benitez features alongside the likes of Thomas Tuchel, Carlo Ancelotti and Luis Enrique in a clutch of potential candidates that have also been well backed in the last 24 hours.

He was touted as a possible successor to Wenger after guiding his side to a 2-1 win over Arsenal last weekend, and did little yesterday to dampen down talk of a possible switch to North London. Asked whether the Arsenal job might appeal to him, the politically-astute Benitez pointedly opted to keep his options open.

“It (Arsenal) is a massive club, but my position now is the same,” he said. “We have games to play and I want to make sure we concentrate on that. That’s it. I want to make sure we have a good team to play against Everton on Monday.”

Benitez has clashed with a number of high-profile managers during his time in England – most notably Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Sam Allardyce – but his relationship with Wenger has always been extremely cordial.

He admires the Frenchman’s impact in his early years at Highbury, when he revolutionised the way English football treated issues like nutrition, sports science and performance analysis, and feels he paved the way for other overseas managers such as himself to succeed in the Premier League.

“I have been talking well about Arsene Wenger for quite a while,” said Benitez. “When he came here to England, to do things in the way he did and win in the way he was winning, was a massive achievement.

“His behaviour has always been good, and he is an example for everyone, but especially a foreign manager like me. He was fighting and winning before me, and it was really difficult to do that. He did really well.

“My relationship with him is really good, and I have had some conservations with him about our battles when I first came. We are talking about one of the best managers in football history.”

Southampton’s goalless draw with Leicester City on Thursday night means Newcastle need one more point to mathematically guarantee their survival. That could come at Goodison Park on Monday, with Benitez claiming there are members of his squad that will be playing for their futures in the final five games of the season.

“Now is maybe the time that some players need to prove themselves,” he said. “So maybe I will make some changes to make sure that some players are given a chance to impress the staff and then think about their future.

“Some players are playing for their futures. Some of them will finish their contract, and others will finish their loans - we can talk about (Martin) Dubravka, Kenedy and (Islam) Slimani.

“Whether they are doing well or not, we need to see, have an opinion on that, and maybe they want to extend their contracts, or go. We have to analyse every single case and then decide.”