Rafa Benitez planning sunshine break for his Newcastle United squad

The club has a free weekend later this month following its FA Cup exit.

And Benitez, according to The Times, is looking to arrange warm-weather training during the fixture break.

United's manager took his players to Spain last season during a three-week gap in fixtures.

The club played Royal Antwerp over three 45-minutes periods in San Pedro Del Pinatar in March last year to top up the fitness of a nunber of players.

Newcastle have a free weekend on February 16 and 17, when the FA Cup's fifth-round fixtures will be played.

United were knocked out of the competition last month by Watford.

Newcastle's next opponents travelled to Spain today for a short training camp ahead of Monday night's game at Molineux.

Nuno Espirito Santo and his squad travelled to Marbella ahead of the visit of Benitez and his team.

The group will return to Wolverhampton on Sunday, as preparations turn to a Monday night clash with Newcastle United at Molineux.

“This will allow us a lot of things, training hard and having a lot of social time," said Nuno. "We need to speak, we need to focus to get stronger and go again. There’s no holiday.

“It’s a lot of work, a lot of work. We’ll work in a different environment, work on things that we need to work on with time. Being together as a group, as a family, as a pack, will be very good for us.

“Like we did last season, the schedule allowed us to go, and we go to work, to focus and to prepare for the game against Newcastle. There’s no holiday. Holiday is only in May.”