RAFA BENITEZ has told Aleksandar Mitrovic he can leave Newcastle United this month – but not to join another Premier League club.

Brighton are understood to have had a couple of offers knocked back for the Serbian striker and are expected to return with another bid for the £15m-rated front-man.

But Benitez, who is still waiting to add another striker to his own ranks as talks with Feyenoord over striker Nicolai Jorgensen continue, has effectively ruled out Mitrovic signing for a top-flight rival.

The Newcastle boss said: “It was clear to him and his agent, if we can bring a striker in then we can consider anything apart from the Premier League.

"If we can’t bring in a striker then we have to consider carefully because we need players.

“I see the press that Brighton offered 7 or 8 but we are not considering selling a player to a Premier League team and that will not make sense.

“We have to manage the players we have. It doesn’t matter how much teams offer in the Premier League because we can’t consider offers if we don’t buy the players.”

Newcastle have only added Kenedy to their ranks during the January window, with Benitez is desperate to see more. He had no update on how close they are to a deal for Danish forward Jorgensen, after last week’s £14m offer.

Benitez said: “I will tell you on the 31st, we have to make sure on the 31st we will have the players we want, that is the main thing.

"I don’t do the business, I only do the football issues. Lee Charnley (managing director) does. We gave a list of players to January 1 and the plan a, b and c were ready. I have confidence that before the 31st we will bring someone else in.”

Newcastle head to Chelsea in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday and Kenedy is ineligible to face his parent club.

Benitez said: “Injuries are the same. Florian Lejeune has been running outside, positive, the only other one is Jesus Gamez, everyone is more or less available.

“We have to be careful because some names are mentioned in the window. I don’t want to do anything wrong for the players. Those players might want to stay and compete and be strong as possible.”