North-East reporter reveals what Benitez's friends have now told him about his future at NUFC

During Simon Bird's latest piece for The Mirror, Rafa Benitez's friends have made it clear that the Spaniard will only sign a new deal at Newcastle United if there is a change of owner between now and the summer.

With the gaffer's contract all set to expire next June, this comes as no real surprise, unfortunately.

Ashley has taken the squad out for Pizza, he's returned to games at St James' Park and he's given post-match congratulatory messages to the players and staff in the NUFC dressing rooms, however this will clearly not be enough to pull the wool over Rafa's eyes this time.

Here's a snippet from the North-East reporter's latest piece, with us picking up on this line during his latest takeover piece"

"Benitez’ future is said to depend on a sale with friends saying he is unlikely to extend his deal which runs into June, unless their is a change of owner."

This sounds about right to me.

There's been talk that Rafa is relaxed about his future and suggestions that Ashley is actually trying to build bridges between himself and the manager, however it feels like those bridges have been burnt?

Ashley has repeatedly deceived or neglected Benitez over the past three transfer windows, so what would any transfer promises mean to Rafa now if he put a spectacular new contract offer on the table?

The only way I see Rafa committing under Ashley is if he knew a new owner was coming in OR he saw the NUFC owner put his money where his mouth is in January.