Rafa Benitez will NOT walk over Newcastle transfer failure

Benitez had been looking to sign a midfielder and a winger in last month’s transfer window.

Second-placed United – who take on Queens Park Rangers in the Championship at St James’s Park tonight – failed in a bid to sign Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend on loan with a view to a permanent move last night.

The 25-year-old, sold to the Premier League club for £13million last summer, had been interested in a return to St James’s Park.

But Newcastle, reluctant to spend in the window, couldn’t agree terms with Palace over a deal.

And Townsend came off the bench and set up a goal in his club’s 2-0 deadline day win over Bournemouth.

Supporters had voiced concerns before the deadline that Benitez would walk if United failed to sign the players he wanted

Unflappable manager Benitez, however, is determined to see the job through.

Speaking before the window closed, Benitez said: “Because I am quite old now, I have experience with clubs and transfer windows and all these things.

“What I have very clear in my mind is that you have to concentrate on one game at a time.

“That means that we have to concentrate on this window, and after we will analyse what we did, right or wrong, and then we will think about the future.

“I cannot be talking ‘if’, because it makes no sense until the window is over.

“We have to wait, see what happens. At the end of the window, we must see if we are strong enough to stay there and go up.

“And after that we will see what we can do in the summer.

“It’s a question of sitting down, for us to keep working hard and making the right decisions at the right time.”

Asked if it had been a “frustrating” window, he added: “I am old so I have been at a lot of clubs with a lot of owners and different ways of doing business. This is just another window.”

Meanwhile, Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul yesterday joined AZ Alkmaar on loan.

Krul – who has recovered from a serious knee injury – had been at Ajax.

The 28-year-old said on Twitter: “I’m grateful to AZ Alkmaar for giving me the opportunity! Can’t wait to be on the pitch!”

Cheick Tiote has agreed a move to Chinese Super League club Shandong Luneng.