Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley insists they had no chance of keeping former manager Rafa Benitez.

Supporters of Newcastle were left furious when it was announced at the end of last month that Benitez would not be signing a new contract, and he was replaced by Steve Bruce last week.

But Ashley told the Daily Mail: "He took the totally soft option, took the money and went to China.

"That disappoints me. If he'd gone back to Real Madrid , or a top six club in the Premier League, I get it. But it was about money and all he had to do was say that from the beginning."

Benitez is expected to earn around £12m-a-year at Dalian Yifang, and Ashley said Newcastle were simply not able to offer him what he wanted.

"Every time with Rafa it was impossible," he added. "There was always another thing, and the next thing, and the next thing. He asked for a 50 per cent pay increase and I think he did that because he knew it couldn't work. And if we had agreed to that, I think it would have been something else."