Soccer:Newcastle boss Alan Pardew insists Stephen Ireland still has "time to impress" at St James's Park and challenged Republic of Ireland striker Leon Best to prove his long-term future lies on Tyneside.
Ireland has been on loan from Aston Villa since January but has yet to feature for Newcastle because of a knee injury and more recently a thigh strain, which thwarted his hopes of a debut against Everton last weekend.
In a recent interview, the former Manchester City midfielder was scathing about life in Birmingham, but he has been only positive about the northeast since his January move.
"He's still got time to impress me because I still think there is a chance of something permanent here for Stephen," said Pardew. "Things at Villa aren't going too well. I want to have a good look at him before he goes back.
"He is under a little bit of pressure because there aren't many games left, but when you've got a player of Stephen's character, I don't think that is a bad thing. He is a player who has played on a big stage in the past, it's not like he is coming from a team which isn't high profile.
"Manchester City [where Ireland played before joining Villa] have been very high profile. There were big players arriving but he was their best player. I think he can handle the big stage here.
"He's a really nice guy, he's fitted in well. He needs our full attention. You can't let him drift. He needs to know he is important and he could be here. If he doesn't feel important he doesn't play his best."
Best’s Magpies career looked to have stalled after an injury-hit first 12 months with the club following his arrival from Coventry at the end of last year’s January transfer window.
However, Andy Carroll’s thigh injury and subsequent €41 million departure to Liverpool handed him his chance, and he has not looked back since. Best scored his sixth goal in 10 games in Saturday’s 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat by Everton and had a second ruled out for pushing as he further rewarded Pardew’s faith in him.
The manager said: “I wouldn’t say I have been surprised, but I am pleased for him because the feeling was that he was going to leave the club from a lot of people, including people within the club.
“He has answered a few critics in the short spell he has had. But of course, there are still another nine games to go and he needs to keep on where he is and make sure he is at the level at which he has been playing for the last few games, which has been terrific.”
Best made 13 appearances, only six of them starts, under Chris Hughton last season, but did not get his first taste of action this term until he was introduced as a late substitute by Pardew in the 1-0 win at Wigan on January 2nd.
He opened his goalscoring account in style three days later when he started the game and scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition of West Ham. He has been a fixture ever since, a run which saw him return to Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland squad last month, although he was forced to withdraw with a hamstring injury.
