MARSEILLE have signalled their desire to re-sign Florian Thauvin - but the French club have warned Newcastle United officials they are only willing to take the winger on another season-long loan.

Rafael Benitez remains on course to be confirmed as Newcastle’s long-term manager later this week, and one of the Spaniard’s first tasks will be to finalise a list of the players he does not envisage being involved in next season’s campaign in the Championship.

Thauvin will be one of the players deemed surplus to requirements, even though the winger is currently due to return to Tyneside for the start of pre-season training having spent the second half of last season on loan at Marseille.

Remy Cabella will complete a permanent move to Marseille this summer as his loan agreement with the Ligue 1 club contained a clause for an automatic transfer, but Thauvin’s temporary switch was a stand-alone deal without a permanent add-on.

However, with the winger having claimed his third goal in the space of two months when he scored in Marseille’s 4-2 defeat to Paris St Germain in Saturday’s Coupe de France final, Marseille president Vincent Labrune has confirmed his club’s interest in re-signing Thauvin for next season

Newcastle will be willing to sell Thauvin, but with Marseille looking to make financial savings this summer, there is no chance of the Magpies recouping anything close to the €17m they paid to sign the winger last August.

Labrune freely admits he does envisage being able to agree a permanent deal, and has already raised the possibility of another season-long loan.

Ideally, Newcastle would prefer to move on Thauvin permanently, but with the 23-year-old currently earning around £50,000-a-week in wages, they will consider a second loan if it is the only option on the table.

Tottenham and Inter Milan have also been linked with a possible summer move, but as things stand, Marseille are the only club to have firmed up their interest.

There will be no final decision over incomings and outgoings at Newcastle until the uncertainty over Benitez’s future is resolved, with an announcement still expected later this week.

The Spaniard continues to work away behind the scenes on the assumption that he will be remaining in position despite last season’s relegation. Having begun to finalise Newcastle’s pre-season match programme last week, Benitez has set a June 28 date for the start of pre-season training.

Danny Murphy caused a minor stir yesterday morning when he suggested that Benitez could be poised to take over at Everton in an interview with TalkSPORT, but the Goodison Park club are set to hold talks with Sevilla boss Unai Emery later this week as they look to appoint a successor to Roberto Martinez.

Benitez clearly has the support of the Newcastle hierarchy, who opted not to trigger the release clause in his £5m-a-year contract at the end of last season, and Georginio Wijnaldum has become the latest player to publicly back the former Chelsea and Liverpool boss.

Wijnaldum suffered at the hands of Benitez as he was dropped from the starting line-up for April’s 2-2 draw at Liverpool, but the Dutch midfielder still regards the 56-year-old as the ideal man to lead Newcastle in the second tier.

“Of course he made a difference,” said Wijnaldum. “He made a big impact on the team, and made us perform better.

“I think he let us perform well. He didn’t let us lose six times in a row, and it was better, so I think that’s why you saw the reaction from the crowd.”