RAFAEL BENITEZ’S long-term future is in jeopardy after Newcastle United’s failure to add any new players to their squad to boost the club’s charge towards the Premier League.

Benitez could not hide his frustrations on Wednesday night when the Magpies’ stuttering form continued with a 2-2 draw with Queens Park Rangers.

The result arrived on the back of the club's failure to take Andros Townsend back to St James’ Park and Benitez admitted afterwards he was ‘disappointed’ and ‘surprised’, having a day earlier tried to retain confidence the deal would be done.

Benitez is not ready to walk away from the manager’s job at Newcastle at this stage, and remains focused on delivering promotion back to the Premier League after working hard to lift them into an automatic promotion spot.

But the doubts will be greater at the end of the season should Benitez find that the control he has had on signings and transfer targets is not as he thinks it should be.

The former Real Madrid and Liverpool manager, linked with West Ham United earlier this season, still thinks Newcastle can finish the job of sealing promotion.

But he had stressed to the boardroom, most notably managing director Lee Charnley, that delivering an immediate return to the top-flight would have been easier if the mood had been boosted by re-signing Townsend.

Newcastle could have had the 25-year-old winger for £13m now or paid that fee in the summer after a £2m loan fee. In the end Benitez was left short because the club opted for neither option.

Benitez was also keen to bring in a new centre-midfielder to provide back up and competition for Jonjo Shelvey, with Everton’s James McCarthy one of many considered.

The lack of signings during the January transfer window contributed to him fielding younger players in the FA Cup, to protect his regulars for the Championship.

The Newcastle manager had informed Charnley of the targets he had in mind before the window had opened, so to be left without a new arrival on February 1 rankled.

It is understood that, in his mind, there was still a pot of money to call on in such circumstances because of the £30m profit after offloading Moussa Sissoko to Tottenham last summer.

Benitez will not be happy if he does not have the final say on transfers, like he has so far since agreeing to stay on after last May’s relegation.

He made wholesale changes to the squad in preparation for a season in the Championship and an indication of his power on the recruitment side was when he signed Daryl Murphy for £3.5m at the age of 33, which is against the club’s buy young policy.

Benitez is understood to have sensed something has changed in terms of how Newcastle have operated in the transfer market while he has been in charge. It is unclear how, although there have been suggestions chief scout Graham Carr and Ashley were ready to get more hands-on again.

Newcastle moved goalkeeper Tim Krul on to a new club. Krul had an unsuccessful spell at Ajax and had been lined up to go to Watford for the second half of the season, but it has emerged he was felt aggrieved that they wanted to thoroughly examine his fitness and condition and instead Krul went to AZ Alkmaar.