On the fresh Gordon exit rumours and if the winger would be affected, Howe continued: "Only if he reads it, I suppose. In this age there's always rumour and speculation.
"I don't see probably 90 per cent of it, I'm sure the players probably see more than I do. But I think it comes with the territory of being a top player and playing at this level, that there's going to be speculation.
"I think you've just got to put it out of your brain and you've got to focus on the football, because as we know with our schedule, there's so many games, there's no time for distractions. We have to be fully focused on each match.
"I think it's irrelevant really. It's how the players take to that. If the players absorb it and it affects them then of course that's a negative. But I think they will become robust enough to ignore it and concentrate on playing.
"And I think these things only come into focus really when windows are open, and that's for me when the player should be, if at all, thinking about their futures. Because in the meantime everything they do in between affects their future. And all they can do is play at their best level and that's what I'd encourage them to do."