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Benitez: Ashley 'told me the takeover would not go through'

Ian MacNicol / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Rafa Benitez knew that Mike Ashley wouldn't sell Newcastle United.

On Friday, three days after a source close to Ashley told Sky Sports News that talks with Amanda Staveley and PCP Partners had ended, Benitez said that the Magpies' owner told him Newcastle's proposed takeover was off "two or three weeks" ago.

"When I was talking with Mike Ashley he told me the takeover would not go through," Benitez declared, according to Sky Sports' Joe Shread. "Since then - I'm talking maybe two or three weeks - we are just trying to do what we have to do in the transfer window and preparing the team for the games.

"In terms of the transfer window, we have some targets and the club has the names. We are trying to progress. We will try to do something. He (Ashley) has the names and the club will try to sign the players we gave to them."

A source close to Ashley announced on Tuesday that there was no deal either on the table or under discussion with Staveley and PCP, adding that attempts to reach a deal proved to be "a complete waste of time."

But a different source claimed PCP Capital Partners had made a carefully considered bid in November and that it was still on the table.

In an interview with The Times, Staveley, for the first time, opened up about her efforts to acquire Newcastle, declaring that she wants to buy the Magpies and it's hurtful to be called time-wasters.

"This is an investment, but it has to be a long-term investment," she stated. "Newcastle would be run as a business, but we want it to be a successful, thriving business that is an absolutely integral part of the city."

Staveley's most recent bid was reportedly valued at £250 million up front, with no compensation if Newcastle was relegated. It apparently remains on offer, and it's understood that Jamie Reuben, a financier, was one of the investors involved in the bid.

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