Aidy Boothroyd has admitted he is not in a position to give assurances about John-Joe O’Toole’s long-term Watford future, or that of any other player, in light of the Hornets’ financial position and the ongoing attempts to sell the club.

Reports yesterday claimed Newcastle United were lining up a £1m move for the Irish Under-21 international, who has already found the net seven times this season, and the Premiership club’s north-east rivals Sunderland are also said to be interested in signing the midfielder when the transfer window reopens.

“When you have a player of John-Joe’s undoubted talents then you’re going to get people asking about him,” said the Watford boss. “His last two games have been his most consistent and he’s a big goalscoring threat. I’ve already said we’re third top of the league in terms of the scoring charts and the last thing I want to do is entertain anything from anywhere.

“But great for him, I guess, and I’m thrilled for him. But he’s got to start scoring more goals for us and whoever plays alongside him has got to make sure that they get some goals as well.”

Asked if a fee of £1m was likely to be enough, or if he was worth more to the Hornets than that, Boothroyd responded: “As we start to get to November everybody starts to ask me what players are coming in and what players are going.

“All I can say is that everything about where this club is at, just about, is out there in the press anyway, so people know where we’re at.

“We’re in a little bit of limbo at the minute because we don’t know where we’re going to be in terms of a new owner and therefore I can’t really say anything about anything – about contracts to be offered to players, about who I would like to buy because I have a long list of people I want to bring in, or who’s going to get sold and who’s not going to get sold. My main focus is to make sure we get some points on the board.

“To answer the question about £1m the answer is absolutely no, nowhere near it, but at the same time I can’t deny or add any sort of fire to anything you say because I honestly do not know what is going on in terms of where we’re going to be in six months time.”

One player who is hoping Watford’s current leading scorer is not sold in the new year is Jay DeMerit.

“I think he has done fantastically well,” said the Hornets’ skipper. “In his breakout year, last year, he proved he can play at this level and his second year is most important, and when he has come into the side in the last two months he has got goals, he has been active, he shows his aggression and as a young kid to have those kind of qualities already is a fantastic foundation to start from.

“The rest comes with it, consistency and things like that is to be seen but he has more than showed he can play at this level and now it is a matter of seeing if somebody snaps him up – hopefully not.”

However, the American international is not convinced that if a Premiership club came knocking it would be in O’Toole’s best interests to move at what is still an early stage of his career.

He said: “For him to develop as a player, it is great for a player to be in a situation like he is now where he is getting a lot of games and he is developing his trade, so is it too early? I am not sure.

“I know that if he did go to a team like Newcastle, I am not sure he would get the type of playing time he gets here and as a young kid developing still, is that the right move yet?

“It is up to him and up to the club whether those things do happen.

“Papers are full of speculation and if those types of things do happen then fantastic because it means he is moving up in his trade – you always think to the positive side of those kind of things. If he does get those types of moves then that is fantastic for him.

“I said to him this morning, ‘you are only worth a million pound then?’ I think, especially for a club like ours and a player worth as much to us as he is, I think we would ask for a bit more than that. Obviously that is up to the board and that is up to the chairman and the manager.

“He is a fantastic talent and he is growing as a talent and to lure him away from here would hopefully take more than that,” DeMerit added.