Newcastle Decline Offer To Sign Expensive World Cup Star

Newcastle will remain frustratingly steadfast in their search for striking reinforcements after declining the opportunity to sign Ecuador star Enner Valencia.

The 25-year-old has made a stunning rise to prominence at the World Cup after scoring three goals in two Group E games for his country and has reportedly been offered to clubs around Europe with his Mexican employers, Pachua, reportedly seeking an eight-figure fee.

€œEnner Valencia€™s value increases every day. We don€™t know if he will stay, it will be hard given the offers we have received," Vice-president Andres Fassi explained.

€œThe options a great player at this level gets are to be taken into account, but for now he has to keep doing things right.

€œNo doubt it would hurt us to let Enner Valencia go, but we are realistic about his quality.€

But the Journal has revealed this morning that Newcastle are reticent to pay through the nose for Valencia - who struck 18 goals in 23 games Mexico's top flight last season - and will stick to the ethos of investing in 'pre-designated targets' that have already been scouted by Graham Carr and his reconnaissance team.

Valencia is a player we've been impressed by at the tournament but, in a way, we're glad the Magpies recruitment hierarchy are no longer making knee-jerk judgements on players on the basis of two matches having had our fingers burnt in the past.

However, the failure to add a senior striker to the ranks so far this summer will escalate the pressure on managing director Lee Charnley to deliver at least two high-calibre forwards to St James' Park before we kick off the new Premier League season against Manchester City on 16 August.

That leaves Charnley, who returned from a fortnight's holiday at the tail end of last week, with just 54 days to accomplish that objective with the timeframe likely to be significantly sliced considering Newcastle are reluctant to do business during the World Cup.