Benitez has been claiming Liverpool have been in discussions with Sunderland

Before heading to Portsmouth for this afternoon’s FA Cup fourth round tie on the south coast, Bruce had a clear-the-air meeting with his highly-rated frontman at the Academy of Light yesterday.

Jones has become increasingly agitated following the constant suggestions Benitez has been trying to conjure up a deal with Sunderland to lure him to Merseyside.

Privately Benitez has been claiming Liverpool have been in discussions with Sunderland for the last two weeks, aimed at sealing a loan agreement for the Trinidad & Tobago international.

But Bruce insists neither himself nor anyone else at the Stadium of Light have been contacted about such a scenario, leading the Sunderland boss to suggest Benitez is playing mind games.

And the Sunderland manager, who suggested “punters must think I have lost plot’’ for considering a loan deal, did not hold back in his criticism of his opposite number at Liverpool.

“The notion that I would loan Kenwyne Jones out is totally and completely ludicrous,”

said Bruce. “Kenwyne Jones is not going on loan to anybody. He won’t be doing that to help Liverpool or anybody else for that matter.

“I would be mad to allow that. If Liverpool are going to come and offer the amount of money which we think is his value then every player, not just Kenwyne Jones, but every player has his price.

Every player has a valuation but I would have to say it would have to be a huge amount of money for us to even contemplate it.

“I haven’t even got a price in my head because I don’t think Liverpool can go there.

“I don’t think they can, but what are they trying? It is like me asking for Steven Gerrard on loan.

“I will try that maybe. It is hugely disrespectful. He is one of the big players in the Premier League. He is a centre- forward and the notion that I would let him go on loan, well, do me a favour.”

Bruce claimed “this may be all about the problems Liverpool have got” as he attempted to explain a version of events that he has been baffled by in the last week.

The situation at Anfield, where the club’s American owners are feuding and have little cash to fund forays into the transfer market this month, is such they can’t afford to match a reputed £15m valuation.

But even if Benitez could come up with such a figure in the next nine days then Bruce does not think it would make sense to cash in if he did not have a suitable replacement lined up. He does, though, accept Jones’ head has been slightly turned.

“It has unsettled the boy and it has probably got to the stage where he thinks I don’t want him, which is not the case,” said Bruce, who was going to decide overnight whether to play Jones today.

“Publicly or privately, I cannot stop this constant link with Kenwyne Jones and Liverpool every day.

“I will find it very difficult to sell Kenwyne now with one week to go and the one thing I am not going to jeopardise is the future of the football club.

“Kenwyne Jones has a big part to play in that future, but if Liverpool are going to come with a ridiculous amount of money then who knows? I have been around long enough to know that. It has disrupted the boy and that is a worry.

“I find the actions of Liverpool hugely disrespectful. I have huge respect for Liverpool over the years in the way they have done business and conducted themselves. But this constant badgering of Kenwyne Jones when we as a club haven’t heard anything is the biggest load of rubbish I have read for weeks.”

Bruce discounted any chance of Jones leaving on loan. But he admitted remaining in the hunt to add to his defensive ranks in the next week, despite the arrival of Matt Kilgallon from Sheffield United.

The Sunderland boss, who hinted that he is prepared to wait until the summer for Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson, has ruled out signing Hamburg full-back Guy Demel.

“The problem is that he is in the Africa Cup of Nations and if he gets to the final it will be too late for us,” said Bruce, who hopes to land Habib Beye from Aston Villa instead. “The deal can’t be done. We might look at it again this summer.”

Demel said: “I will stay with Hamburg. That is certain. I also realised that many fans did not want me to go.”

With Kilgallon cup-tied today, Bruce will be unable to field any new faces at Portsmouth. He has warned, though, Sunderland’s players should not under-estimate Pompey during their off-thefield financial problems.

“That sort of thing never affected me as a player,” he said. “The closest was when I took my first job with Sheffield United and I had only been in the job 35 minutes when I was told I had to find £350,000 and quick.

“It is not easy for their players and it is pretty sad to see the dilemma they are in.

“We all have to try to put some sort of stop to it because if it carries on the way it is it is just ridiculous.”

■ Sunderland’s Premier League match at home to Manchester City has been put back 24 hours to Sunday, March 14, and their game at Liverpool has been put back to Sunday, March 28.