Newcastle will focus on buying a defender rather than a striker following confirmation that Modibo Maiga's move to Tyneside has collapsed.<br /><br />The Sochaux forward, 24, was set for a £6m transfer in January.<br /><br />But the deal broke down because of medical concerns over one of the Mali international's knees.<br /><br />"I don't think we will be bringing a striker in after the collapse of Maiga, which we had put a lot of work into," said boss Alan Pardew.<br /><br />Newcastle will lose 14-goal Demba Ba, who plays for Senegal, to Africa Cup of Nations duty in the coming weeks.<br /><br />It will leave the Magpies with Leon Best, Shola and Sammy Ameobi and Peter Lovenkrands as the only strikers in the first-team squad.<br /><br />But Pardew, whose side lie seventh in the Premier League table after a promising start to the season, added: "As far as we are concerned, we will go with what we have got.<br /><br />"You have to pay over the odds in this window - and you have to accept that if you are going to invest in this window. We won't [do that] in terms of a striker."<br /><br />Pardew added that the chance of resurrecting the Maiga deal at some point in the future was extremely unlikely.<br /><br />"The player is probably more disappointed than anybody else, but these things happen and we will have to do a lot of work now between now and the summer to locate another striker," he said.<br /><br />In the meantime, Pardew will concentrate on trying to bring in a defender after centre-half Steven Taylor's season was ended prematurely by an Achilles injury.<br /><br />"We are looking at bringing maybe a defender in," said the manager. "We need to bring in a defender."<br /><br />/football on Youtube brings you the latest football news, transfer rumours and footballing gossip from the English Premier League and European Champions League.<br /><br />tags<br /><br />liverpool newcastle pardew 1-0 0-1 1-1 2-1 2-0 3-0 3-1 "Premier League" epl "Newcastle Upon Tyne" Football Manchester Champions United Soccer Chelsea "Association Football" Goal Arsenal Highlights Goals "Chelsea F.C." Cup "Manchester Uni
