West Brom boss: Jonny Evans will be sold well before deadline - or not at all

Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United have all been linked with a move for the Northern Ireland international this month.

Albion are likely to need to sell skipper Evans, valued at £30million, to generate funds for new players who can aid their Premier League survival bid.

There have been tentative enquires but no concrete bids for the defender yet.

Pardew lost Andy Carroll as Newcastle boss when the Magpies sold the striker to Liverpool for £35million on deadline day in January 2011 and does not want to be left in the lurch again.

He said: "I'll put in a cut-off date on any transfer, for that particular reason. It damaged Newcastle at the time and it was only the response of the strikers we had behind that kept Newcastle in the division that year.

"I would say three or four days (before the January 31 deadline), depending on the business we have done. We might be looking to do some business on the last day.

"I'm not saying I won't do any transfers with three days to go, but if it was a big transfer, one of the players who was very important to us and didn't give us the time to execute our plan, then no.

"It might be situation where no-one comes in and I'm going to have to react to that in terms of trying to come up with a strategy to get us the wins we desire. But the window is open and I'd like to take the opportunity if we can."