RAFA BENITEZ will not risk Jonjo Shelvey against Arsenal this weekend, even if the Newcastle United midfielder is desperate to make his return from injury.

Shelvey has missed the last few games with a thigh injury he picked up during pre-season and it has been hoped the international break would give him the extra time required to get fit.

The 26-year-old has been back on the training ground this week and is indicating to Benitez that he is ready to return to action.

But the Newcastle boss will not take his word for it and will weigh up what happens over the next few days before making a decision on his availability for the Gunners test on Saturday afternoon.

Benitez, who did say he was “optimistic”, said: “Jonjo is the kind of player who wants to play in every game and he has been training, but at the same time there is a problem.

“The last time he was pushing and pushing and we could see in training he was not fully fit. He wanted to play, he was telling us he could. I was talking to him today, but we have to see how he is during the week and decide if he is OK or not.

“We don’t talk about his quality, we talk about his fitness. He has the quality to do it, but he has to be fit because we play against another top side who move the ball very quickly.

“He has been carrying the problem for a while, he wanted to keep playing because he has the quality. But I remember one session where he couldn’t kick the ball as long as he liked so he stopped. I told him to stop. Hopefully this time, with the international break, it has given him long enough.”

Matt Ritchie is also battling to return to action with a knee injury and is also hoping to face Arsenal, but the Scotland international has not restarted training yet.

One player not facing Arsenal will be young winger Rolando Aarons. The 22-year-old was allowed to join Czech side Slovan Liberic after being omitted from Newcastle’s Premier League 25-man squad.

Benitez did not feel Aarons would be able to force his way ahead of the other wingers in the Newcastle squad, but has not completely closed the door on him being a success at St James’ Park.

The Newcastle manager said: “When you analyse his position, we have Kenedy, you still have Christian Atsu, Ritchie and Jacob Murphy too, so to have a young player like Rolando he was not playing too much, then afterwards he was injured.

“He needs to play, he needs to prove to himself and to everyone he is a good player for the future. He has the potential. He needs a little consistency, he needs to play games in a row and that is the key for his confidence.”

Former Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan, meanwhile, has been talking about his time at Newcastle working under Mike Ashley in his new autobiography ‘My life in football: The Autobiography’.

The book is not due out until October but there have been sections of it being serialised and, despite winning his constructive dismissal case, he has now claimed it was a ‘harrowing experience’.

Keegan, in his book, said: “Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised when Alan (Shearer), who is Newcastle through and through, has standards that surpass those of the club’s owner, and doesn’t feel the need to sugar-coat the truth in his television and media work.

“I have, after all, experienced the full force of the Ashley regime and, although I won my case against Newcastle for constructive dismissal, you can take my word that it wasn’t a pleasant experience being engaged in a legal battle against a man of such power and immense wealth.

“That it was Newcastle at the centre of this litigation made it an even more harrowing experience.

“Indeed, the whole thing was so hideous it convinced me I never wanted to work in football again.”

He added: “This is an extraordinary club, run by unconventional people, and perhaps the most charitable way I can put it, as Jesus said on the cross, is to ‘forgive them for they know not what they do’. These people don’t know what a precious club this is.

“They don’t comprehend that football in this big, vibrant city is about self-esteem.

“They have made a toy out of Newcastle.

“As much as it pains me to say it, I have no desire to be associated with the place for as long as that continues. I will gladly return when they have gone.”