RAFAEL BENITEZ will reject the opportunity to take over at Russian club Zenit St Petersburg, but the Newcastle United manager’s future remains uncertain, despite West Ham United having switched their attention to Manuel Pellegrini.

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan is due to meet Pellegrini later today after the former Manchester City boss quit his position in charge of Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune.

Sullivan had been keen to prise Benitez from St James’ Park, having previously missed out on the Magpies manager when Real Madrid came calling in the summer of 2015.

However, while the West Ham chief had been willing to pay £6m to trigger the buyout clause in Benitez’s current contract, which only has one more year to run, he was concerned at the length of time it could take to conduct negotiations with both the Spaniard and the Newcastle board.

As a result, he has switched his attentions to Pellegrini, who is effectively a free agent after reaching a mutual agreement that enabled him to sever his ties in China.

The 64-year-old Chilean spent three years in charge of Manchester City, winning the Premier League title before he was replaced by Pep Guardiola.

West Ham’s decision not to pursue their interest in Benitez will be welcomed by Newcastle fans, although it does not necessarily mean the Spaniard will remain on Tyneside if negotiations over a new deal remain locked at an impasse.

Benitez is aware of outside interest from Zenit St Peterbsurg, with the Russian club searching for a new manager after Roberto Mancini left to take charge of the Italian national side last month.

Zenit are willing to offer Benitez a lucrative contract and a huge summer transfer budget, but the Newcastle boss does not want to uproot from England to move to St Petersburg.

He has rebuffed previous interest from China and the Middle East during his time in charge of Newcastle, and is keen to remain in the Premier League.

He remains frustrated at a lack of progress in talks between his representatives and Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley though, and will continue to refuse to commit to a new deal unless he receives some guarantees about the club’s summer transfer plans.

With a takeover seemingly off the agenda given Mike Ashley’s new £400m asking price – Amanda Staveley has made no attempt to restart the discussions that broke down at the start of the year – Benitez is keen to start pursuing some early transfer targets.

However, despite Ashley’s pledge to give Benitez “every penny generated by the club”, he is still to receive an indication over the size of his summer budget.

He is also keen to discuss the parameters of his transfer dealings as he does not want a repeat of last summer’s disappointments, when he was unable to land a number of his key targets even though he felt the players in question would significantly improve the squad.

One deal that should prove relatively simple to complete is the permanent transfer of Martin Dubravka, with Newcastle already having agreed a deal with Sparta Prague to turn the goalkeeper’s loan into a full-time agreement.

Newcastle have to pay an additional £4m to sign Dubravka permanently, and the Slovakia international is keen to complete a full-time switch after producing a string of impressive performances in the second half of the season.

“I would like to (sign permanently), of course,” said Dubravka. “It’s a huge club with a great history, amazing fans and quality players. Standing with the best players in the world, I’m so proud of it.”