MANAGER Jason Tindall insisted Cherries could not control ongoing speculation surrounding Joshua King’s future, with the January transfer window set to open.

King has been widely tipped to join West Ham – despite Cherries rejecting a £13million offer from the Irons for the Norwegian back in October.

TalkSPORT this week claimed the 28-year-old was “desperate” to move to London Stadium and they were still “keen” to capture his signature.

Asked about King’s future, Tindall told the Daily Echo: “Josh has been fine in training. He’s not told me he’s desperate to go to West Ham.

“I don’t know who he has said that to – I’d be very surprised if he has said that because he’s a Bournemouth player now.

“His main priority is what he does for this football club until anyone else tells him otherwise.

“That’s the way it will be. It’s the only way I’ll allow it to be and if he, or anyone else on his behalf tells me he doesn’t want to be at the football club, I will act in the way that’s in the best interest of the football club.”

He added: “Listen, I think we can’t control what speculation there is out there. We can’t control anything we are not in control of.

“All we can control is ourselves and what we do every day.

“As manager of the football club I need to judge Josh King from what I see on a daily basis – how he trains and how he acts around the lads and that’s it.

“So far, Josh has trained very well. He’s acting in the right way around the group. Until that point, we can’t do anything, it’s just speculation.

“Josh is a good player, he’s back fit now. He came on against Brentford and looked sharp when he came on.

“What happens away from that, whether he is here or someone comes in for him or not, we can’t control, so there’s no point in even really discussing it.”

Speaking ahead of his team’s trip to Stoke in the Championship tomorrow (7.45pm), Tindall confirmed King was not interested in signing a fresh deal at Vitality Stadium – with just six months remaining on his current contract.

Quizzed on whether the club would be happy to let him go on a free, the manager replied: “We haven’t even spoken about whether he will go on a free or are we happy (for him) to go on a free.

“His contract situation is his contract situation. Josh made it clear a long, long time ago that he didn’t want to sign another contract for the football club.

“That’s not just happened now. That happened sort of this time last year – he made that clear to the football club that he didn’t want to sign a new contract.

“We are not going into something we were unprepared for and we didn’t know what the situation was going to be.

“What happens now from this moment on is something that will be decided on what happens in the next few weeks, obviously.

“While the window is open, if something happens and the club get an offer that they feel is acceptable then, so be it.

“If not, up until that point Josh King is a Bournemouth player and anyone that’s a Bournemouth player has a duty to give 100 per cent to the club and the team.”