RAFAEL BENITEZ is determined to ensure Newcastle United stay in the Premier League this season regardless of whether Mike Ashley agrees to sell up in the next six weeks.

Benitez is being kept informed of developments behind-the-scenes at St James’ Park and is not particularly optimistic that a sale will take place before Christmas, which is Ashley’s wish.

Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners are known to have made two offers so far – one worth £350m and made up of instalments and another believed to be less than £300m - and neither have come close to tempting Ashley into letting go.

Negotiations are believed to be ongoing with Ashley, and Benitez would prefer something to happen sooner rather than later to boost his spending power in the new year.

The prospect of a takeover not taking place has some fans fearing Benitez would walk away. He has, though, played down such talk ahead of today’s visit of Watford to St James’ Park.

Benitez said: “Still the target will be the same: stay in the Premier League. If we stay in the Premier League, we will have more money from the TV for the future.

“But it will be easier to attract also players because in the Championship, you could convince players because we were Newcastle United and I could say, 'Oh I know this one, maybe I could talk with him'.

“But if you go to the Premier League and you are at the bottom of the Premier League, some players will say, 'I will wait'. But if you are in the Premier League already, you can attract players.”

Asked if he will still be here in a year’s time if there was no takeover, Benitez said: "I think so. I'm quite happy with this group of players, they're improving, they're learning. I think so. I don't see any difficulty now. Just for me it is a challenge now. I was disappointed after the summer? Yes. But still this is a chance for me.”

Ashley put Newcastle officially up for sale last month and Benitez has focused on keeping his players’ minds on the Premier League fixtures. After news of bids from Staveley, though, it would be impossible to ignore.

Benitez said: “I am quite pragmatic. What can I do? Nothing. So what I have to do is be sure my team is focused and concentrating on the football. I don’t talk to players about that (takeover) because we do not have the information. So we talk about the next game.

“We have a couple of games in the next few days which are massive for us. We can do what we have to do. Improve in our training sessions and make sure everything is fine, analyse the last game, prepare for the next one and know what we have to do to beat Watford.

“I understand why I am being asked about it but I do not have any answers. Be sure I am doing what I have to do to prepare my players for Watford.”

Newcastle have this week been linked with Besiktas striker Tosun again and there is sure to be a long list of names mentioned as January approaches, particularly if Staveley’s bid for the club proves successful.

Benitez has warned fans. He said: “If you know the rules and financial fair play rules do not allow you to spend massive money. So, you have a change in ownership and (people say) they will have millions to spend in January. But it is not a massive difference for us. So we have to concentrate on try to improve the team, watching players, monitoring players.

“You can see them but maybe not sign them. They may not want to come, they are in Europe, they want to stay because of family or whatever or they are very expensive and you do not have the money.

“So it is the last thing I am thinking about. Our way to prepare things in January is exactly the same as before. Good players. Can they come? Can we pay the price?

“You know I was not very happy in January and also in August. But, what I said, I know that we have that and so I had to concentrate on improving the players that we did have.

“We have a group of players who are working very hard. Each one has his own level. You have 26 in the squad. You can maybe manage to bring in a couple of players that we need.

“Maybe there are two or three that I can move and two or three that I can bring in. But are they available? Can you move players on? If we cannot move anyone and maybe no players available that we can sign.

“Before you can run, you have to walk, so I need to be sure that we stay in the Premier League. That is my priority now.”

To achieve that first goal of staying up he will keep preaching the same approach, he said: “The only way – and I am trying to send the message across all the time – is we need to know where we are, we need to know what we have and what we are expecting from our players: commitment, passion, work-rate, and they are giving that.

“When other fans criticise our fans, 'Oh, you are expecting this or that', they say, 'Oh no. What we want is to see our team fighting, working very hard on the pitch', and they have that.

“This team in the Championship, this team in the Premier League, they are giving everything. You can make mistakes and you can concedes goals – I will be upset, I will be disappointed or whatever, but what I want is people working very hard.

"We have to improve every day, every training session, every game, every week. We will lose games. Three games in a row we have lost. Why? What is the problem?

"What we need to do is when we play against Huddersfield, Brighton, Burnley, we are competitive and we can beat them. This 1-0 up and 1-0 down will make a big difference. If we stay united, and if we continue working as hard as we are at the moment - even making mistakes, because I will make mistakes in the team selection or whatever or the tactics, or the players making mistakes - we will be strong and stronger.”