RAFA BENITEZ insists he is not giving up hope that there will be new additions made to his Newcastle United squad before tomorrow night’s transfer deadline.

There are increasing fears on Tyneside that the Magpies boss’ wish to bring in more new signings before the window closes at 11pm will not be granted.

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Benitez would not talk specifically about Daniel Sturridge’s decision to accept a loan move to West Brom rather than St James’ Park yesterday, while he was also reluctant to discuss specific targets at such a crucial stage of January.

Newcastle are interested in Leicester strikers Islam Slimani and Kelechi Iheanacho and there is an interest in taking Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala on loan.

Newcastle are also understood to have admitted defeat in their pursuit of Feyenoord’s £24m-rated Nicolai Jorgensen.

Benitez, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Burnley to St James’ Park, said: “We have some time and we have an important game tomorrow, I will not talk about the window. I will concentrate on the game and ensure we will not lose focus on that.

“We still have time I am confident we can do something. I will not spend too much time speaking about that.

“Yes, we are working on names and we have worked for one month, longer than one month. The last month we have worked on the names we had on the list, we still have some time. It’s not how disappointed I am or not, I want to concentrate on this game.”

Asked specifically about Sturridge’s decision, Benitez replied: “No, we don’t talk about the window.”

He also denied that Mikel Merino could leave for Athletic Bilbao in the next 24 hours.

Newcastle, who will not have any injured players back to face Burnley, are still expecting players to move on – even if Benitez is conscious of leaving himself short of options if the replacements aren’t brought in.

Midfielder Jack Colback, winger Rolando Aarons and Aleksandar Mitrovic are the likeliest contenders to go.

Benitez said: “We have two or three players who are talking with different clubs, we will see if we can progress with some of them.

"We will see if we can bring some in. There are some players who are maybe leaving, we will try to do our best to bring some in.”

But he is pleased to have brought in Brazilian wide player Kenedy from Chelsea on loan.

The Newcastle boss, who should hand him his debut tomorrow, said: “At the start of the season we looked for a player who could play left full-back, wing-back, he is an offensive player and was a good option for us.

“We couldn’t do it then but we have done it now. He needs to understand what we want and I think he has the quality to do well for us.

“We are talking about a winger, wing-back, hopefully he can make the difference in the wide areas, making the crosses, or the quality of the free-kicks.

"He is in the squad, maybe he has a chance because he has done well. The understanding with the rest of the team-mates is something that takes time, he could play but we have to chat about it.”