Rafa Benitez: Newcastle United will aim to avoid relegation in 2018-19 campaign

Rafa Benitez has revealed the primary objective for Newcastle United next season and supporters will not be happy.

Rafa Benitez recently told the media that Newcastle United have one key objective this season and it is to avoid relegation. Despite the success from last season, Benitez is doubtful that the Magpies can replicate those results with the current roster.

While most predictions from media outlets do not have Newcastle participating in a relegation battle, Benitez is not confident. Thus far, Newcastle have inked Martin Dubravka and Ki Sung-yueng to permanent deals and brought Kenedy in on loan.

In terms of his personal expectations for next season, Benitez had the following statement to make:

"The reality is the Premier League is difficult and every year the others spend money and bring new players. Fulham, Wolves are spending. Huddersfield, Brighton, everyone is spending, making it more difficult. So next year the target will be to stay up"

Change versus Continuity

Benitez believes he is managing a side that is bound for another relegation battle as a result of minimal roster changes. While a lack of changes in the roster can be frustrating, it does develop one positive thing that most clubs lack: continuity.

A Premier League club that is notorious for its continuity is Bournemouth. The small club has never made several changes during the transfer windows, but instead the Cherries have kept their core players together for multiple seasons. Has continuity worked for them? In a way, yes. Eddie Howe’s continuity approach has enabled Bournemouth to average a 12th place finish in their three seasons in the top flight.

Seeing that Newcastle’s long-term objective is to fight for a spot in Europe, continuity will not be enough to elevate the status of a mid-table side. Benitez is right to be worried about minimal roster changes, but not to the extent of participating in a relegation battle.

Notice for Mike Ashley

I do not doubt that Benitez is concerned about his team’s standing compared to other clubs that are spending large sums of money. However, I am also not convinced that Benitez is truly afraid of relegation. When asked about the club’s objective for next season, there is no better way to throw a public jab at Mike Ashley then by hinting at another poor season.

This tactic has not worked much in the past, but it does not hurt to try again. Ashley’s reluctance to invest in Newcastle this summer has left the club far behind the rest of the league. Newcastle will have a rough start to the season with difficult fixtures, but the Magpies will not be relegation favorites.

It is also worth noting that this question regarding expectations for next season should have been asked two weeks from now. Newcastle have three more weeks to sign players and if they can bring in two more players, Benitez might express more optimism.