ALAN Pardew says Newcastle United will look to sign another striker in the summer – after ruling out a move for Geordie Danny Graham.
Boyhood Newcastle fan Graham yesterday signed for Sunderland in a £5m deal.
While Pardew is an admirer of the Gateshead-born player, the 27-year-old wasn’t on the club’s transfer window shopping list.
Newcastle’s No1 target was Loic Remy, who chose to join struggling Queens Park Rangers at the 11th hour after being offered an eye-watering contract at Loftus Road, with United instead making the lower-key acqusition of Bordeaux forward Yoan Gouffran.
The club will look to bring in a striker in the summer, with Pardew confident he now has enough firepower at his disposal.
“You always want another striker,” Pardew told the Gazette.
“I want Man United’s position, (Robin) Van Persie, (Wayne) Rooney, (Javier) Hernandez and (Danny) Welbeck – that would be nice!
“But we haven’t got that. When we lost out on Remy, it was pretty evident that we weren’t going to get a big striker.
“They’re pretty difficult to get over the line.
“You look around now, and nobody apart from Remy has really moved, maybe Danny Graham, but I don’t think he’s at that level. I think that’s something we’ll look at in the summer.”
All five of Newcastle’s signings came from France, where chief scout Graham Carr is well-connected.
And Pardew believes there’s better value to be found across the Channel, with the £1.7m acquisition of midfielder Moussa Sissoko a case in point.
Owner Mike Ashley – who visited the club’s training ground yesterday to meet the new players – is adamant that United must be self-financing.
And that approach should pay off when UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules are introduced.
Newcastle transfer policy contrasts sharply with that of basement club QPR, who yesterday signed Christopher Samba on a reported £100,000-a-week contract.
“Financially, we did our business – that’s us done,” added Pardew.
“You know how we work here. It’s not like we are QPR, where the owner is putting in his own money.
“That’s going on. But they don’t look viable, some of the deals they are doing. We’re viable – that’s what we do.”
Twitter: @milesstarforth
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