Rafa Benitez Confirms Fulham Target Jonjo Shelvey Will Not Leave Newcastle in January

Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez has confirmed that there is "no chance" midfielder Jonjo Shelvey will leave St James' Park during the January transfer

Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez has confirmed that there is "no chance" midfielder Jonjo Shelvey will leave St James' Park during the January transfer window.

The 26-year-old has been attracting a lot of interest ahead of the winter transfer window. Most notably Fulham have been linked with Shelvey, as Claudio Ranieri is weighing up a swap deal which would see Tom Cairney move in the opposite direction.

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But Benitez is adamant that Shelvey will not be leaving Newcastle next month, confirming that the Magpies are not looking to offload any of their first-team players ahead of the second half of the season.

"No, no chance," Benitez said when asked about Shelvey's links to Fulham, quoted by the Guardian. "Jonjo is an important player for us. Him and Ki Sung-yueng can technically pass the ball well and keep it, they give confidence to the rest of the team. 

"I hope Jonjo will be as important to us for the rest of the season as he was last year."

Benitez did, however, confirm that Newcastle would be looking to offload one player specifically during the January transfer window, as fourth choice goalkeeper Rob Elliot is deemed to be surplus to requirement in the north east.

"I’ve decided not to talk about the transfer market...but we are not selling players," he added. "There is only Rob Elliot in the market and that’s because we have too many goalkeepers."

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Martin Dúbravka currently holds down the first team spot in between the sticks at St James' Park, while Karl Darlow - a target for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United - and Freddie Woodman act as the Slovakian's understudies.