Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick is happy to keep Jesse Lingard for the rest of the season if a transfer does not materialise before the January deadline.
The Manchester Evening News revealed on Wednesday Newcastle had submitted a loan deal to sign Lingard, 29. United rejected the opening offer but Newcastle are still working on a potential deal for the England international.
Lingard is out of contract at United in June and is not expected to stay, having started just two games so far this season. Rangnick is open to letting Lingard leave but would be content if he stays.
"With regards to Jesse, it's the same as quite a few other players," Rangnick said. "He's a really good player, you see that in every training session. For me, it's normal that other clubs, like Newcastle, showed interest in him but I am not the one dealing with that.
"I know there might be interest from some other clubs but if you ask me now what will happen in the next 10 days I cannot answer that question, I'm afraid.
"As I said, it's the question is what does the player want, what kind of other options does he have, does he have the chance to get more game-time? Those are all questions I cannot answer for him or for other players, this is something that has to be done by the players and the agents, themselves.
"What I can say is he's a very good player, a technical player, of course he can play in many Premier League clubs on a regular basis. Here, at Manchester United, it's not so easy, we have other players who can also play in that position and we cannot change from one game to the other on five or six positions.
"I know his contract is expiring in the summer, the question is what does he want to do? Does he want to get more game-time from now on, then I think it's quite legitimate to speak and think about other options. But I wouldn't be unhappy if he stayed until the rest of the season because I know he is a player who can always play even if we need to play him from the start, I know what kind of level I'll get from him."
