Rafa Benitez insists Aleksandar Mitrovic remains in his Newcastle United plans for now - though admits he will have to assess his squad come the January transfer window.
The Serbian is currently third-choice forward behind Joselu and Dwight Gayle, and reports in Belgium have suggested former club Anderlecht could make a January loan bid for the 23-year-old.
But Benitez is refusing to make any definitive decisions about the medium-term future of any of his players until the January transfer window opens - and has instead challenged Mitrovic to win his place in the Magpies starting XI.
“Every player who is not playing, the closer we get to January, there could be a rumour in the Press,” Benitez said of Mitrovic.
“But at the moment we are working with 26 players in the squad to try to improve them. I cannot say, ‘I want to do this or that’, because maybe we cannot.
“I had this conversation with an agent the other day, I said: ‘You have to wait until December to see where we are because if I say yes, he can go, after that we could have an injury.’ So why do I have to sell my player if I don’t have a replacement.
“Then you go for the replacement and it’s £30million, or he wants to wait until next year, or won’t come because we don’t play Champions League.
“So why do I have to agree to something now when have two months to go? Are we working on names? Yes, you have to be ready.”
“It’s the same answer when people are asking about [Ciaran] Clark and [Chancel] Mbemba,” Benitez added.
“Mitrovic, Dwight... they have to keep working hard.”