Chris Hughton is confident of landing targets

Jan 12 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

CHRIS Hughton has warned Leeds United he will not wait forever for them to part with Jermaine Beckford as he confidently predicted he would still get the number of players he wants even if they refuse to sell the striker.

The Newcastle boss has admitted he is after three players this month and although Beckford is at the top of that list – along with a plan to extend Danny Simpson’s loan move from Manchester United until the end of the season with a view to making it permanent in the summer – there are other options.

Leeds are attempting to hold out for a fee of £2m for their 20-goal top scorer and manager Simon Grayson has talked tough about holding on to the player against his wishes unless Newcastle raise their offer.

But Hughton has been unaffected by the noise emanating from Yorkshire and will not be bullied during his recruitment drive as he argued there was no need to rush things.

“We’re not at the back end of the transfer window yet,” said Hughton, who will also look to sign a centre-back before the close of the window following the failure to land Sheffield United’s Matthew Kilgallon.

“In the ideal scenario you do your business as quickly as possible, but in most cases it doesn’t tend to happen that way. That’s the frustration this window brings.

“We’d rather do it nice and early, know what we have and go on from there, but that hasn’t been the case.

“There comes a time when we will have to look elsewhere.

“We’d prefer to do our business early but there comes a stage, if you have a specific target in mind, that you have to move on to other targets (if nothing is happening).”