Newcastle will not rush into any move for Charlton striker Darren Bent as he
recovers from a knee injury.
Manager Glenn Roeder had considered renewing his interest in the 22-year-old
after Alan Pardew admitted he is up for grabs.
However, while the Londoners expect Bent to be back in action within a month,
fears that his absence could be more prolonged mean the Magpies are likely to
suspend any approach until the summer, if the player does not win a January move
away from The Valley.
Newcastle's stance is understandable - they have seen England frontman Michael
Owen make just 10 starts since his £17million move from Real Madrid in August
2005, and while he may play again towards the end of this season, Shola Ameobi
is targeting the next campaign after undergoing hip surgery.
Roeder's admiration for Liverpool's Peter Crouch is well known, although
Rafael Benitez's insistence that the England international is not for sale means
he needs contingency plans.
Bent has been on the St James' Park radar for years - he turned down a move to
Tyneside as a teenager, preferring to play regular first-team football at
Ipswich instead.
But the Magpies have been encouraged by the noises coming out of south-east
London after they were forced to disregard him last summer when he signed a new
deal with Charlton.
Roeder instead turned to Nigerian Obafemi Martins, who has now settled to such
an extent Newcastle have had to dismiss speculation he could be sold to Chelsea
this month.
The manager and chairman Freddy Shepherd have been scouring Europe for
reinforcements in recent weeks with a striker and defenders their priorities,
and like their counterparts elsewhere in the Barclays Premiership, are not
finding things easy.
Roeder said: 'It is going the way we expected. When you are looking for
quality players, they are never easy to get out of the clubs they are already
at.
'Managers do not want to sell their better players, so it is difficult - but
I expected it to be.
'We are working hard and we will see what the next few weeks bring.'
Roeder has insisted he will not invest in players without being certain they
can do a job for him for the length of their contracts after being saddled with
expensive flops following his appointment as manager.
He managed to offload £8million Frenchman Jean-Alain Boumsong to Juventus
during the summer and will hope he can move on Spanish misfit Albert Luque this
time around.
It is understood Dutch side PSV Eindhoven want to take the £9.5million winger
on loan with a view to a permanent deal.
However, the player's £40,000-a-week wages could prove the stumbling block
with Newcastle unwilling to meet any shortfall between what PSV are prepared to
pay him.
They are adopting a similar stance to the one they took with Boumsong, and
will hope for the same outcome.
The 28-year-old former Deportivo la Coruna midfielder has started only six
Premiership games for the club, none of them this season, and was left on the
bench at Birmingham on Saturday when youngsters Matty Pattison and Alan O'Brien
both got the nod ahead of him.
Meanwhile, Roeder has welcomed a home draw in the fourth round of the FA Cup
if his side can finish the job against Steve Bruce's side.
Newcastle would face either Premiership rivals Reading or Coca-Cola
Championship Burnley at St James', and that will do for the manager.
He said: 'First of all, we have to concentrate on the replay with Birmingham
and make sure we get through that match before we can think about the next
round.
'But I never change my opinion when it comes to cup draws. In any
competition, you are always looking to be drawn at home and this gives the
players a great incentive to get through.'
