Michael Owen © AFP/File Philip Brown

NEWCASTLE, England (AFP) - Michael Owen will not be allowed to leave Newcastle in January, manager Sam Allardyce insisted on Friday amid continued speculaton about a potential bid from Manchester City.

Owen has been linked with a reunion with former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson and City are reported to be ready to offer up to eight million pounds for the striker.

Allardyce dismissed the rumours as typical speculation in the run-up to the opening of the transfer window on January 1.

"Certainly at this moment in time, my squad coming to January is going to be depleted by four players going to the African Nations Cup, and there is no room for me moving any players out of this football club," Allardyce said.

"It is about, if anything, bringing some players in to bolster the squad, not just for the players who are missing for the African Nations, but hopefully, if it is there, to get us better to see us through this season."

Owen, who turned 28 on Friday, is not in the squad for Saturday's Premier League trip to Fulham but could make his comeback from a thigh injury against Derby on December 23.

Rumours that Newcastle could be prepared to cash in on Owen have been fuelled, in part, by the serial injury problems which have blighted his time in the north-east.

The forward, who is under contract until the end of next season, has managed just 25 appearances for Newcastle since making a 17-million-pound move from Real Madrid in August 2005.

Allardyce has another injury-prone member of his squad, the Brazilian defender Claudio Cacapa, available for the trip to Fulham. Cacapa has been been out for over a month with a hamstring problem.