NEWCASTLE UNITED are already working on their summer recruitment plans, but Rafael Benitez admits it will be much easier to start making significant progress once the club reaches the 40-point mark.

Benitez takes his side to Leicester City this afternoon looking to increase the seven-point gap that currently separates them from the bottom three. Last weekend’s win over Huddersfield Town took the Magpies to the brink of safety, but Benitez continues to insist he will not rest easily until his side claim another five points to take them to the 40-point mark.

Once they do that, he will regard their safety as guaranteed, and will feel able to step up the planning that is already underway for the end of the campaign.

Signing Martin Dubravka and Kenedy on permanent deals will be an early priority, but Benitez is also drawing up a list of potential targets that will be pursued if Newcastle remain in the Premier League next season.

“The main thing is to get to 40 points,” said the Magpies manager. “If we are there, then it will be easier to start working on everything. But at the same time, we are already working on that – not just me, but also the scouting department and Lee Charnley.

“We are trying to advance and be sure we make the right decisions for the future, but obviously you cannot say, ‘We will do this or that signing’ because you do not know, but you are working on names and on what you can improve for the next few years.

“It is part of my responsibility. We will start working and we can make decisions once everything is finished because we get to 40 points. It is not an issue, but at the same time, we are already working.”

Benitez’s future is another key issue that needs resolving, with the Spaniard once again having been the subject of speculation from his homeland linking him with a possible move to Real Sociedad this week.

The Champions League winner signed a three-year deal when he took over at St James’ Park in March 2016, so as things stand, his current contract is due to expire towards the end of next season.

It is hard to imagine him going into a new campaign with his long-term future unresolved, so there will have to be some tough discussions this summer if other clubs express a formal interest in his services.

Benitez has clearly developed a strong bond with Newcastle and its supporters, but he has been let down in the last two transfer windows, with Mike Ashley having failed to come up with the funds required to land his leading targets.

Ashley’s own position remains uncertain given he still wants to sell the club, and Benitez is keen to keep his cards close to his chest when it comes to discussing his own position beyond the end of the current campaign.

“I have said before, and I want to be clear again now, I don’t want to talk about my future or ‘We will do this or that’ or discuss if something will change or not,” he said. “It’s just a case of concentrate on Leicester, concentrate on getting to 40 points and that’s it.

“In the meantime, we are working, so it’s not that we are not doing anything. We are working, but the main thing is to make sure that we can get to this 40-point mark. There is no deadline (for a decision about his future), nothing. It’s just Leicester, three points, and then carry on working.”

Today’s game takes Benitez back to the King Power Stadium for the first time since he took on Leicester in his first game as Newcastle boss.

Only three players remain from the side that started the 1-0 defeat in March 2016 – Jamaal Lascelles, Jonjo Shelvey and Ayoze Perez – and plenty has happened in the subsequent two years.

“Back then, I was just thinking about trying to win the game to save the team,” said Benitez. “You were not thinking too far ahead. The way things are now, they change so quickly, so you cannot afford to be thinking too much about the future.

“I did not have too much time when I came in, and my first impression was that they needed some help. I could help, and then they were quite positive. We tried to do things in the way we wanted, but I think we had 13 players injured. We didn’t have a left-back or a holding midfielder, so I had to play (Vurnon) Anita or (Jack) Colback as a left-back.

“We had so many problems. Even Rob Elliot, who was starting to do well, got injured with Ireland, so we had to play (Karl) Darlow at Norwich. So it was quite difficult at the beginning. You needed to know, not just what your players could do on the pitch, but also their character in difficult circumstances.”