Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew still wants a striker signing after the deal for Sochaux's Modibo Maiga collapsed due to a failed medical.

The Journal says United have watched Moussa Sow (Lille) and Luuk de Jong (Twente) over the past few months and do have an interest in Wilfried Zaha, of Crystal Palace. But the £10m that Palace are trying to extract in January - for a player yet to play top-flight football - is pretty absurd.

Pardew admits that getting value in January is difficult, which will make their hunt for a forward even tougher.

"It's just whether you're going to get value in this market with a striker. I think that was proven last year, it's difficult to get in this market," he said.