Newcastle manager Alan Pardew will not attempt to persuade Mevlut Erding to move to St James' Park.
St James' Park boss does not want striker if he is not motivated
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew will not attempt to persuade Mevlut Erding to move to St James' Park if the striker does not want to leave Paris St Germain.
The Turkish frontman remains high on the Magpies' wish-list, despite his indication he wants to stay in France amid a row over bonuses.
Pardew has not yet given up on Erding, but says the club will not pursue the matter if he is not desperate to play his football at Newcastle.
The manager 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.
Criticise
"I'm not being disrespectful and I know that Paris St-Germain are in the Champions League, but with our stadium, our support and the squad we have got, we are the bigger club.
"We have to be careful. Some of the things being quoted are not from him and we have 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 are certainly not going to force his hand."
Newcastle have previously targeted Kevin Gameiro and Gervinho among others, but were unable to persuade either to head for St James' Park, and the hunt for a striker to battle it out with new arrival Demba Ba, Shola Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands is ongoing.
However, Pardew has been at pains to stress that the transfer window does not close until the end of August and that he is remaining patient.
