STEVE McCLAREN has warned Ayoze Perez against a move from Newcastle United in January, and claimed the Spaniard is already in the perfect place to assist his footballing development.

With the transfer window due to reopen at the turn of the year, Perez has been the subject of increased attention in the last few months, with both Manchester United and Manchester City known to be keeping a close eye on his progress.

Newcastle shelled out around €2m to sign Perez from Tenerife in the summer of 2014, so with owner Mike Ashley consistent in his view that every player has their price, there will be an inevitable temptation to cash in if a multi-million pound offer is lodged at the turn of the year.

McClaren will do all he can to keep the 22-year-old on Tyneside, and having been impressed with his progress this season, is adamant it would be detrimental to Perez’s development for him to move elsewhere.

“His career is definitely best served here,” said the Newcastle head coach. “Absolutely. He’s getting development, a good education, the right training and most important of all, he’s playing.

“It’s important he keeps playing, and it’s also important that he’s supported and loved. Here, the fans love him, his team-mates love him and we love him too. It’s a great environment for Ayoze to develop.

“He is someone who is doing very well. He came here as a player with potential and played a little bit last season. It’s taken him a while to get going this season, but he’s certainly become an important player.

“I look at him though, and he’s still got a long way to go. There’s a lot to do, but the potential is massive.”

Perez made 25 Premier League starts after breaking into the first team last season, but McClaren freely admits he did not know a lot about the forward before his appointment as John Carver’s successor in the summer.

At the start of the season, both Georginio Wijnaldum and Siem de Jong were regarded as a more natural fit for the crucial ‘number ten’ role behind a lone centre-forward, and Perez was not involved in either of Newcastle’s opening two matches.

He made his first start of the campaign in a wide position at Old Trafford, but has subsequently been shuffled inside and emerged as the Magpies’ key attacker playing on the shoulder of Aleksandar Mitrovic.

He will continue in a central role when Newcastle entertain Leicester City this afternoon, with McClaren admitting his attitude and ability have enabled him to barge his way up the pecking order.

“He has forced his way in,” he said. “When I first came, I didn’t know a lot about him. There were other players in a similar position who I knew a lot more about. Ayoze had limited opportunities in pre-season, but he stuck at it, kept going and forced his way into things.

“You try to develop cohesion in a team, and players who can play well together. That’s the process we’ve been going through since the start of the season, getting that cohesion right. Gini (Wijnaldum) and Ayoze link well together, and leave each other with a bit of freedom.”

McClaren is set to name an unchanged starting line-up this afternoon, with Rob Elliot having been passed fit despite missing both legs of Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2016 play-off win over Bosnia. Karl Darlow has returned to training, but will play in a development game on Monday night with Freddie Woodman named as the substitute goalkeeper today.

There has been mixed injury news on two other fronts this week, with Jack Colback edging closer towards a return to fitness but Gabriel Obertan ruled out for up to four months after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring problem.

Having been involved in five of the opening seven games of the season, Obertan damaged his hamstring in training prior to the 6-1 defeat at Manchester City.

He had begun to edge his way back towards fitness, but a recurrence of the injury meant he was forced to undergo surgery in France this week.

His latest setback will potentially rule him out until the end of March, and places a huge question mark over his future with the Magpies given that he is due to become a free agent in the summer.

“Obertan has had an operation on his hamstring in France – it’s the same hamstring he’s had problems with - and will be out for three or four months,” confirmed McClaren. “It’s a serious concern, and a big disappointment for him. He felt after a solid start to the season, he was getting an opportunity, so we feel for him.

“Everyone else is coming along fine. Colback is getting closer and progressing very well, but we need to be careful with him. He’s itching to get back, but we might have to hold him back a little bit.”