NEWCASTLE UNITED new-boy Martin Dubravka has revealed how persuading Rafael Benitez he deserves to stay at St James’ Park beyond this season is his primary goal.

The 29-year-old was targeted initially in December by Benitez, having been handed glowing reports from his recruitment team and handed footage of him in action for Sparta Prague.

Dubravka’s a goalkeeper who likes to use his feet and play out from the back, a tactic the Newcastle manager hopes to adopt more if the Slovakian can prove he deserves his place in the team.

Benitez resisted the temptation to throw one of his deadline day recruits straight into the side at Crystal Palace on Sunday, instead choosing Karl Darlow between the posts.

Now with the extra training sessions this week, Dubravka is hoping for a chance sooner rather than later because he has every intention of staying on Tyneside during his loan until the end of the campaign.

“It’s exciting to be here, it is a big club particularly in my own country,” said Dubravka. “I appreciate the opportunity and I will try to do my best to stay here and hopefully it will not just be a loan.

“I really hope I get to stay longer than six months. It’s a huge opportunity for my life.

“The coach hasn’t said to me to prove myself over the six months, nothing like that. I do have to show myself and to the people that I can do this because this is what I want in my life.

“I have played for smaller clubs before in my own country, Sparta Prague is a big club but this is a big step for me. The Premier League is an amazing league and I got to see at Palace straightaway how hard you have to fight for every point.”

Dubravka had spells with Zilina, Esbjerg and Slovan Liberec before heading to Prague last summer. He has established himself in the international squad and was in goal when England beat Slovakia 2-1 at Wembley in September.

“It has been perfect so far, it’s completely different to wherever else I have been at other clubs before,” said Dubravka. “It is very professional, the guys are all quality and we train hard on the training ground.

“It’s about being 100 per cent every day and I am happy about that because I am determined to prove myself. I am delighted to be here.”

Dubravka helped Zilina into the Champions League and played in the group stages five years ago, and his focus is on forcing his way on to the first team stage at Newcastle – where he hopes to shine.

Karl Darlow made some excellent saves at Palace last weekend only to then lose his nerve in the second half when he made a few mistakes, raising question marks over his place in the team when Manchester United travel to Newcastle on Sunday.

“Look, we are all competing for the shirt but we are all one team also,” said Dubravka. “I will support Karl if he is in the goal. He will get 100 per cent of my support, whoever it is in goal will.

“It’s up to the coach who will be in goal. We are a team though and we will stick together. I only had three training sessions with the team before the Palace game.

“It can take a little longer than I am used to, to get used to the sessions and the other guys, but I will do my best to be ready and to play. I want to show the coach I can play.”

Would he be ready if the call came this weekend? He said: “I have played before in England, Scotland and other countries also.

“It shouldn’t be a problem to adapt, even though I have only been here a few days. I will get used to it and I really hope that I will be fine within a few days.

“Everything is going in a good way. I try to be ready on the training ground to show the coach, the players that they can count on me.

“It was nice to be at Palace even though I was on the bench I felt part of the team. It would have been nice to have won that game, we could have because we scored the first goal. Sometimes that’s the game.”

Benitez would have preferred to have had more new faces than Dubravka, Kenedy and Islam Slimani on board now. The latter was targeted in the end because of a failure to strike a deal with Feyenoord for Nicolai Jorgensen.

Newcastle will make a fresh move for the 27-year-old in the summer if they can preserve Premier League status. The Dutch club wanted around the £22m mark and the second offer reached £15m.

Jorgensen’s agent, Mikkel Nissen, has confirmed to Danish media outlet Ekstra Bladet that Newcastle tried to make the move happen.

“I can confirm that Newcastle specifically wanted to have him and did a lot to make it successful,” Nissen said. “There were also other Premier League clubs in play, but Newcastle was the most daring.

“But Feyenoord was against it [the move]. They just didn’t want to sell him in this transfer window and will look at it this summer.”