The Magpies have been linked with the 35-year-old Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder for several days now, but have privately played down their interest in him with Tottenham overwhelming favourites to clinch a loan deal during the American close-season. Newcastle know they have more chance of landing alternative targets. Pardew was coy on Monday when asked about the speculation, although once again he did not rubbish the claims. He said: "People are suggesting we are in the market for him because I have said I want an offensive player and obviously, he is one of the few on the market. "I have not dismissed it, but in no way are we in talks or anything like that. I have not dismissed anyone because I don't want to limit my chances here. "I think it is unlikely, but we have targets elsewhere which give probably more chance of fruition than that one." Asked how far down the line Newcastle's interest is, Pardew added: "It's just really the media reports and the sound-bites that are coming out from David's end that he wants to come back to the Premier League. "If you are a Premier League manager of any ilk, you want to be in the ball park, so to speak, if he becomes available. "Have we put a phone call in? Not yet, no, because we are going to discuss transfers tomorrow and the window tomorrow and make sure we have a clear strategy. But he wouldn't be somebody who is top of our list." The Magpies have also been linked with Tottenham duo Robbie Keane and David Bentley, as well as Leeds winger Max Gradel and Southampton striker Jason Puncheon, who is currently on loan at Millwall, with Pardew keen to improve support for star striker Andy Carroll when he returns from a thigh injury, and the likes of Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands, Leon Best and Nile Ranger in the meantime. However, financial restrictions could limit his ability to attract the bigger names to St James' Park, and there is a feeling on Tyneside that the club is happy to use to rumours as a smokescreen to draw a veil over their pursuit of more practical targets. Spurs, of course, could offer Beckham Champions League football, but Pardew is confident the Magpies remain an attractive proposition. He said: "We have to look at ourselves as a big club. We know that coming up from the Championship, we are rebuilding here and we need to develop our own players, we need to bring in good young players here. That's the policy. "Occasionally, you need a boost from a senior player. Ideally in this window, I would probably like to bring in one of each. "But it might be a young player, it might be a senior player to just help us through this term so we can grow next year because survival, of course, is everything and we can't take out eye off that." Pardew is equally keen to retain the big names he already has at his disposal, and while he admits some of his fringe players could leave this month, he insists striker Best, who was used as a substitute in Sunday's 1-0 Premier League victory at Wigan, will not be one of them. He said: "He hasn't really had many opportunities and he is crying out for one. I can assure Newcastle fans he is not here collecting his money. "He is banging on my door and he wants a chance. I quite like that, so he may feature in the next two or three games." Meanwhile, Pardew confirmed Carroll has a 50-50 chance of being fit for the derby clash with Sunderland on January 16.
