EDDIE HOWE will resist all attempts from Saudi Pro League side Al-Shabab to sign Newcastle United defender Jamaal Lascelles.
While the domestic transfer deadline was last week, the Saudi Arabian transfer window does not close until Thursday.
Al-Shabab, who are one of the Pro League teams not co-owned by the Saudi PIF, who are the majority owners of Newcastle, are interested in a deal for Lascelles.
The Newcastle skipper has slipped down the pecking order at St James’ under Howe, but the Magpies are not in a position where they can consider losing a centre-half.
The club failed to recruit a new central defender during the summer, and have seen both Sven Botman and Fabian Schar suffer injury issues in the early weeks of the season.
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Botman, whose comeback date remains uncertain, was forced to miss last weekend’s defeat at Brighton, while Schar suffered a knock in the game as he was partnered by Dan Burn at the heart of the back four.
As a result, while Lascelles' first-team opportunities are likely to remain fairly limited, Howe does not want to reduce his options even further by sanctioning the 29-year-old's departure to Saudi Arabia.
When asked about the potential of losing players to the Saudi top-flight last week, Howe said: "That (the Saudi Pro League transfer deadline) is not something I've really considered.
"Our squad is settled and I expect our squad to stay together because certainly we couldn’t afford to lose anybody."
Howe did allow one of his fringe players to depart earlier today, with out-of-favour midfielder Isaac Hayden agreeing a season-long loan deal with Belgian side Standard Liege.
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