Benitez threatens to quit Newcastle if club doesn't match his ambition

Rafa Benitez has warned Mike Ashley he will quit Newcastle as he is ready to 'stay at home' and wait for a club to match his ambition.

Sportsmail reported on Friday that the Magpies are determined to keep the Spaniard, whose contract expires this summer.

Benitez and the club, however, are yet to agree on a shared vision for the future and it is understood that, until the boss is given certain guarantees over recruitment and investment, he will not sign a new deal.

He wants to know there is a desire to challenge in the top half of the Premier League and has sent a strong message to the owner, breaking his vow to keep discussions private.

'What I want is to get a job where I can enjoy competing. If I cannot, maybe I have to stay at home and wait,' revealed the Spanish manager.

'We need a team that can compete in the Premier League and not just survive. I think there are ways we can do that, but we have to make sure we are of the same opinion.

'It has to be a team that, when you play against anyone, you are sure you can win. Not that a draw will be a great result.

'When I decided to stay here in the Championship, it was to compete, to get back to the Premier League and try to be in the top 10. After that, try to go to Europe. That was my idea in the first year.

'Now, we are in a situation where we have to decide if we want to achieve something more.'

Benitez celebrated his 59th birthday this week and suggested that he plans to manage until he is 70. He also watched the thrilling Champions League tie between Manchester City and Spurs and admits that he still longs to be part of the competition he won in dramatic fashion with Liverpool in 2005.

'I want to compete for trophies,' he added. 'And the best trophy is the Champions League, so yes, I want to have the possibility, in the next 11 years, to win it again.'

That is unlikely to be at Newcastle, where a transfer budget of around £50million plus player sales is expected to be available for the next campaign.

Benitez, though, knows that figure will make it difficult to challenge even those clubs in the middle of the table.

'If you want to compete against teams between seventh and 12th, how much money have they spent? £100m, all of them,' he said.

'With the wages that they pay, if you want to compete with them you have to maximise what you've got. I don't say you have to spend £200m, but you have to do things in a way where you can really compete when you go to the market.'