Chris Lakey Glenn Roeder has refused to write off a summer move for Newcastle's Shola Ameobi - but insists the striker won't be coming to Carrow Road on loan before the end of the season.

Chris Lakey

Glenn Roeder has refused to write off a summer move for Newcastle's Shola Ameobi - but insists the striker won't be coming to Carrow Road on loan before the end of the season.

City's problems in front of goal - and Roeder's admission that he needs to freshen up his misfiring front-line - have again prompted speculation that Roeder was interested in bringing the 26-year-old to Norfolk.

And while that seems to be far from the case, Roeder did leave the door ajar for a definite move as part of what he considers to be the “major surgery” he will undertake at Carrow Road come the end of the season.

“Newcastle are up to their necks in it,” said Roeder today ahead of the trip to Sheffield United on Saturday. “He hasn't had any match practice and he hasn't played this year.

“Even if there was any chance - and there is no chance - knowing Shola like I do he would probably take a month to get match fit, and that's too late.

“But I like him a lot. He would be unbelievable goal scorer in the Championship.”

When asked whether he might consider a move for the Nigerian forward at a later date, Roeder replied: “Who knows.

“But I just opened my hands there - I think he's a fantastic player, certainly rated much more highly by me than lots of other people who tend to like headless chickens running round the place who don't score.

“He scores goals.”

Roeder's current search for strike reinforcements has drawn a blank, but he says the search will continue until the deadline, at 5pm on March 27.

“I am really disappointed this week,” he said. “I have been on the telephone most of this week trying to find a couple of loans.

“I understand the position some teams are in. Those whose players are not involved might have an injury or two and they suddenly are involved, but that doesn't mean I won't stop until the deadline.”

Roeder will need more luck for what is guaranteed to be a busy summer.

“We have so much looking to do the close season is not going to be long enough,” he said. “There's going to be such a shift of players out and in that it's major, major surgery.”