JONJO SHELVEY has enjoyed making up for lost time working under Rafael Benitez, and the Newcastle United midfielder wants it to continue.

Benitez laid the foundations for Shelvey’s move to Liverpool from Charlton, but the manager left Anfield in summer 2010 so the midfielder never got chance to play for him.

The 24-year-old has had the opportunity at St James’ Park and has become a key part of the team seeking an immediate return to the Premier League.

Shelvey initially struggled to force his way into Benitez’s starting line-up after he had taken over in March and that led to talk of him leaving; just months after arriving from Swansea in a £12m deal.

But he has never wanted to go and has found greater consistency when Benitez has turned to him to play in the centre of midfield.

"I've not thought about leaving once. I wanted to stay at this football club - I only signed in January!” said Shelvey, who played the full 90 minutes at Rotherham on Saturday.

“I'm settled here. I've got my family here and things like that. It's a great city to live in and a great football club to play for.

"It was tough not playing at the back end of last year. I'm the sort of person that normally gets the hump if he's not playing, but I think that's natural as a footballer.

"You want to play every game. At the end of the day I went away in the summer and worked on my body and my mind. I want to stay here and play for this club."

Shelvey has played 13 times this season and 11 of those were from the start to highlight how highly his manager values him now.

The six-cap England international accepts, though, that Newcastle’s squad is strong enough to keep every player on their toes and Benitez has impressed Shelvey.

"He's a very good man-manager. He gets his points across well,” said Shelvey. “If you're not playing, he's a manager who's very approachable. You can always knock on his door. He'll give you the explanation.

“But there's 25 players. Imagine if everyone was knocking on his door? He wouldn't get out until the evening! It's football. It's a results business. To be honest, it doesn't matter who plays or who scores as long as we win the games and get the club back up to the Premier League.”

Shelvey is pleased to have had the opportunity to work with Benitez – finally.

He said: "He signed me at Liverpool. I went up there in the May and met him, and then I went back to Charlton for the last month of the season.

"In the summer he left and Roy Hodgson took over. It's weird how football works out. When I was at Swansea we played Napoli in the Europa League. I spoke to him there and he was always spot on.”

Newcastle sit three points shy of top spot in the Championship and former manager Steve McClaren could yet come up against them.

McClaren, who left St James’ Park in March, is among those under consideration to replace Roberto di Matteo at Aston Villa. Di Matteo has paid the price for just one win from the first 11 matches in the second tier despite spending plenty money in the summer.

That has led to McClaren – also touted for a return to Derby following the suspension of Nigel Pearson - being considered along with former Sunderland boss Steve Bruce.