Howe said: "No I wouldn't say that is a conversation we are having. He has got a contract, a long contract, signed a new deal this season. When a player does that he committs himself to you for a number of years.
"Of course in the modern game things can change, but he looks happy. I see a player happy in the group, on the training pitch, off the pitch as well. So I would hope we can do enough to keep him here."
He added: "Firstly he is very defensively intelligent, very aggressive and physical. His main quality though of course is with the ball, his technical ability which we didn't see early in the game because we didn't have the ball. Second half we saw plenty of that and I thought he was instrumental in us coming here and getting the win."