Rafael Benitez wants talks over Newcastle future imminently

Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez revealed he is keen to discuss his future with the club "as soon as possible".

The Spaniard has steered the Magpies to a remarkable comeback to all-but secure their Premier League survival but is yet to agree a new contract, with one year remaining on his current deal.

Benitez placed importance on understanding the board's ambitions for the future, while praising the "passion" on display from the club's fans since he arrived at St James' Park two years ago.

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"When I decided to come here, I could see the potential of this massive club and I could see the passion of the fans," the former Liverpool and Real Madrid boss said.

"After two successful years here, I can feel this passion. I can feel the ambitions and I know the ambitions of the fans.

"My position now is to know the ideas of the club and if they share the same ambitions."

Asked when he plans to enter talks over a potential new contract, he said: "I would like to do it as soon as possible, but obviously I want to concentrate on the games at the same time.

"It's very clear that we need to start talking about ideas for the future. When I see ideas, I talk about players.

"But it's very difficult to know because we need to know how much money is available and what we can do with that."

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Benitez joined Newcastle two seasons ago, guiding the club to automatic promotion last season by winning the Championship.

Following news Arsene Wenger is to leave Arsenal at the end of the season, Benitez joins a list of names being linked as possible suitors to replace the Frenchman.

"It is a massive club," Benitez said.

"My position now is the same - we have games to play, I want to be sure we concentrate on that. That's it."

Benitez credits his players' "winning mentality" as key to their recent success, insisting the squad enter every game believing they can take all three points.

"The main target was to stay in the Premier League - we did it and we did it brilliantly," he said.

"We have to just try to do our best until the end and see what we want to do in the future.

"Always I talk about winning mentality, so when you have winning mentality - and we have shown that - we try to win every game.

"We try to go and get three points in every game. If we do things in the same way, we can beat anyone."

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