ANDROS TOWNSEND has thanked Rafael Benitez for giving him the platform to force his way into England’s Euro 2016 reckoning.

Townsend has been training with the provisional 31-man England squad at St George’s Park ahead of the friendlies with Turkey and Australia. He will hope to impress sufficiently to avoid the cut when Roy Hodgson submits his final 23-man squad for France by May 31.

The 24-year-old’s mere presence in the mix for the European Championships is a marked improvement on earlier in the campaign, when he was left training and playing for the Under-21s at Tottenham.

But Townsend’s performances under Benitez, after he arrived for £12m in January after Steve McClaren’s recommendation, have forced his way back on to the international stage and he knows how important Newcastle’s boss has been in that.

Benitez is edging towards staying on at St James’ Park despite a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave following relegation to the Championship.

Townsend said: “Of course I hope he stays, that’s no secret. Ever since he came to the club there was an upturn in my form, from day one.

“He’s been very hands-on with me, telling me how I can take my game to the next level and he’s been a huge help getting me where I am today, back in an England shirt.

“I’m extremely grateful and hopefully he can sign on for a few more years. For the time being I am focusing on England. If I don’t make the squad or if I do, whenever my international duty ends, then I’ll sit down with the club and see where we go from there.”

Injuries to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Welbeck opened the door for Townsend to be called up after his three goals for Newcastle in the battle against relegation. He was preferred to Theo Walcott, who struggled to get into the Arsenal side.

The Newcastle winger, speaking on England duty today, said: “I’m not naive, I know maybe I got my chance because Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got injured, but I’ve been given this chance and I’ve got to take it with both hands.

“I was delighted to be called up. The media was speculating, in some reports I was in and some I wasn’t. It was bittersweet of course, because I would have liked Newcastle to stay up and then get the call, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“It was a huge honour and a big relief when I was named in the provisional squad. The manager has to pick 23 out of 26 now, that’s going to be very difficult, but my job is to make it even more difficult with my performances on the pitch.

“I know loyalty is not going to get me on the plane to France, I need to play well in the friendlies if I’m given game time.”