By Colin Young
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Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has told Yohan Cabaye to play against Fulham on Saturday.
And Pardew is hopeful the France international midfielder, who has now missed three games after going on strike, will be available for weekend selection.
Cabaye has refused to play for his club since they turned down a 10million offer from Arsenal in the opening week of the season.
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Newcastle want at least 20million for a player they signed from Lille for a quarter of that amount two years ago and Pardew is eager to welcome him back into the squad if Arsene Wenger refuses to meet the asking price between now and Monday's transfer window closure.
That will begin with a start against Martin Jol's Fulham at St James' Park on Saturday.
Pardew said: 'We've still got to wait until the window shuts before we can say yes or nay on a definite, but what I have said to Yohan Cabye is that I expect him to play this weekend and until another bid comes in from Arsenal that is accepted or not, that will be the situation.
'I think he may play, but we'll have to wait and see over the next couple of days how that manifests itself.
'We're all conscious that it's about the football club and it's the football club that's important. We have to protect the football club and as managers and chairmen and boards a lot of that has gone on this summer, making sure that agents aren't dictating the situation. It's more the agent than the player, in my opinion.
'I hope I can keep all my players, because you don't want to lose a world class player like Yohan Cabaye and hopefully the addition of one or two others.
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'We need and would like another striker, or maybe another two flair players in the side, so we are in the market for anybody in that field that we think is going to work for us. We work in a small spectrum of the market in terms of the finance we have available, so that's what we're concentrating on.'
Newcastle's summer signing Loic Remy is finally ready to be unleashed at the weekend and the on-loan QPR striker will be on the bench to face Fulham.
The France international arrived injured but has now shaken off the calf problem which forced him to miss pre-season.
Pardew added: 'He's trained, but he hasn't really done a pre-season. I think the option of him on the bench, maybe for just the real last period of the game might be something I like because it would be nice to bring him off the bench.
'He's fit and well, there's no problem with him, it's just he can't really do a big portion of the game.
'I hope our fans don't start chanting his name after 20 minutes! They're a bit like that our fans, a bit impatient for things like that, but I hope we can just give them another victory. They were absolutely brilliant at Morecambe and I hope we can give them another win on Saturday and give them a lift, too.'
over rated coward of a playet
- gaz , Durham, 29/8/2013 18:50
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