Benitez is not a manager to throw cash around – he will only sign players in best interests of United
SOMETIMES you do wonder why Mike Ashley has not simply flashed the green light in the direction of managing-director Lee Charnley to extend the contract of Rafa Benitez.
Benitez is not asking for a personal fortune to remain as boss at St James’ Park in the next few years.
He is simply looking for control when it comes to his spending kitty this summer and when that TV payment of £50million hits the club’s account next month he is eager to be able to spend some of it in one transaction if the opportunity presents itself.
Benitez is not demanding - if anything he is a realist when it comes to what United can really afford to do in the transfer window.
For example, when the subject of former Liverpool and Chelsea star Fernando Torres came up last month, Benitez knew from the offset there was little chance of luring the Japan-bound striker to Tyneside.
Benitez did not even suggest it actually, but was asked his thoughts by Spanish publication Marca just before Torres left Atletico Madrid.
At that stage Benitez knew Torres was after one final pay day and he was not going to get it at St James’ Park.
He simply said: “I think it will be harder for him to come, not because we don’t want to.
“I don’t know what is going on in his head but maybe he is thinking about something else.
“It would be appealing, but I don’t think it would be easy.” As the transfer window gathers momentum, former Manchester City and Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli’s name is suddenly doing the rounds on the football circuit.
His is another name Benitez will dismiss pretty swiftly if asked about – even though the hot-blooded Italian international is available on a free transfer.
His representative, super agent Mino Raiola, is punting Balotelli around left, right, and centre at the moment.
Arsenal are the latest side to be
linked with Balotelli while Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, AS Roma, and Parma are also understood to have been offered the 27-year-old.
Benitez has worked with Balotelli before.
However, even if he did feel he was the man to spearhead Newcastle’s attack next season, his bumper wage demands and the hefty fee whch will come the way of Raiola would make it unrealistic.
It is unlikely Benitez is interested in blowing away a huge chunk of the modest budget he has on a player living on past reputation.
What Benitez will look to do is call in favours from some of the bigger clubs in the Premier League and around Europe and utilise the loan options available to him.
He will work smartly but, in turn, Newcastle need to keep pace with the boss as potential deals can quickly slip away if United take too much time on them.
Last season the Magpies triggered a release clause to sign Florian Lejeune from Eibar, which cost the Magpies just £8.7million.
The summer before, Benitez had inside knowledge of Mo Diame’s escape clause in his Hull City contract and swiftly activated it, which caught the Tigers cold with other clubs unable to even react before he was whisked up the A1 and signed on the dotted line for Newcastle.
Then there was Mikel Merino, a player United snared from Dortmund on loan before snapping up for just £7m.
Merino’s Tyneside future may well be uncertain but Newcastle will only sell him if they can make a big profit on him.
All of that is simply a flavour of the recruitment philosophy of Benitez and, as he has pointed out before, he will only sign new players if it benefits the club – not the individual and certainly none of the game’s socalled super agents.
It means the stage is set for an intriguing summer.
We understand Benitez has some interesting names lined up for the Magpies in the next month or so.
If he is backed by Ashley and Charnley in the way the club’s managng-director suggested he would be recently.