Dalian Yifang coach Rafa Benitez has hinted he couldn't see himself working any longer with Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.

Benitez quit over the summer for China.

And he told the Daily Mail: "When I went to Liverpool — and it was a difficult decision to leave Valencia — it was because they were talking about five years, a project, build something.

"When Aurelio De Laurentis, the Napoli chairman, came to see me, he flew at 6am on his private jet to see me in London. And if you analyse Napoli now, we signed Higuain, Albiol, Koulibaly, Jorginho, Mertens, Reina. We changed Napoli to build something.

"Newcastle was another challenge. A massive club, a fanbase supporting the team, a whole city. But after a few months you could see it was a different vision. The takeover was not coming and we needed to think about other options.

"This was the same idea, a chance to build something, a challenge. It was big project versus no project. The decision was easy."