Erdinç deal back on?

Alan Pardew insists that his hopes of signing Paris Saint-Germain striker Mevlüt Erdinç have not yet been dashed.

He also insists that he and his team are working on other signings should the Erdinç deal fall through.

It appeared that the deal was dead last week when his agent came out and said that Erdinç was happy to stay at PSG. To be fair it could be understandable given the fact that they are in the Champions League and have a bit of money to spend. Alan Pardew believes that his agent is playing games though and is trying to mask the players willingness to move in the hope of getting a better deal. To be fair I guess it's his job.

Pardew told The Journal: “It’s quite easy for me. If the boy wants to stay at his club and be third choice and doesn’t want to come to Newcastle then I don’t want him – because Newcastle, for me, are a bigger club."

“I’m not being disrespectful and I know that Paris Saint-Germain are in the Champions League but with our stadium, our support and the squad we’ve got, we’re the bigger club."

I'd probably agree with that assessment. I'm not being deluded by saying that because the reality is that a fair few Premier League clubs would be viewed as bigger than PSG, despite their European exploits. They are spending a bit of cash though and have acquired Kevin Gameiro who we were chasing earlier on in the summer, which in effect has made their first choice striker from last season surplus to requirements.

It's that what Alan Pardew is trying to tap into in my opinion. He's basically saying that there are first team games here for him. Hopefully that will strike a chord with the player as, despite what his agent may or may not be up to, it is his career. Pardew continued:

“We have to be careful. Some of the things being quoted are not from him and we’ve got to cut through it. It’s difficult to criticise the player because sometimes it’s the agent or someone else not getting what he wants."

“But we won’t bring him to the club if he doesn’t want to be here. We’re not certainly going to force his hand. All transfers are always alive until such time as someone buries them. We’re not burying this one.”

So seemingly we ARE still trying to bring the 24-year-old Turk to the club. The Journal did also say that it "understands" that there are three other strikers under consideration - all of them European based and under the age of 28, but with no names mentioned it's hard to get excited about them.

It appears that Erdinç is the new main striking target, for now anyway, and Pardew was quick to reassure fans that we'll see another striker coming into the club over the summer. On the hunt for a striker to partner and compete with Demba Ba, Pardew added:

"We’re still confident on bringing a striker in. It makes me laugh when people say time is running out – the deadline isn’t until the end of August."

“It’s obvious we’re looking to get a striker in, we’re not just paying lip service to it. We have made bids, that is in the public domain. But we have to make sure it’s the right player, that is the most important thing.”

So we're still fighting for Erdinç, we should be confident about getting another striker in before the window closes, we won't be messed about by agents, and we'll only sign players who really want to come. That seems to be the messages hidden in Pardew's words here.

As ever I shall wait and see what happens first...