EDDIE Howe refused to be drawn on Newcastle interest in Kalvin Phillips - as United's boss fired two transfer warnings ahead of the January window.

Phillips doesn't feature in Pep Guardiola's plans at Manchester City and has made just four Premier League appearances this season, all from the bench. He is said to have now told Guardiola that he wants a move in January as he looks to secure his place in the England squad for next summer's European Championships.

Juventus are monitoring Phillips' situation and lining up a move and Newcastle are also keen on the former Leeds midfielder, but quizzed on the 28-year-old directly, Howe said yesterday: “I’d never talk about any individual player."

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Howe did, however, discuss the upcoming January transfer window and sounded two messages of caution.

He stressed the need to be patient, admitting early breakthroughs next month are unlikely. And he also warned of the importance of being "careful" in what he described as an "incredibly tough window".

"We are assessing our squad probably on a daily basis at the moment to see where we stand injury-wise and then to see where the gaps are within our squad, and see what January can bring us," said Newcastle's boss.

"But I probably wouldn’t expect any early developments, it’s a long month so we’ll wait and see.

"I feel like a broken record. The January window is always very difficult. It's an incredibly tough window to sign good players in. We did unbelievably well last year to sign Anthony Gordon, who is a top player. Not only for when we signed him, but for the longer term it was a really good deal.

"There are not too many of those transfers flying around so we need to be very careful. Any decision we make has to have long-term benefits to the team."