Injury-hit Emre made his first appearance of the season against Barnsley late last month, but did not feature against Wigan Athletic three days later.

Galatasaray, meanwhile, have confirmed their interest in taking their prodigal son back to Turkey.

But Allardyce is unconcerned about the continued speculation about Emre's future, and says his future - for now at least - is on Tyneside.

He said: "It's not an issue at the moment.

"There's no chance of him going back to Turkey because the transfer window is shut, so he can't go anywhere."