NEWCASTLE boss Alan Pardew remains keen to sign Stephen Ireland on a permanent deal in the summer, despite the fact the midfielder is yet to play for the Magpies.

The Irish international joined in January on a deal until the end of the season after he fell out of favour with Aston Villa manager Gerrard Houllier.

When Ireland arrived he was recovering from a hamstring injury, though he was set for a return last Saturday against Everton.

But the midfielder picked up a thigh injury in training which could keep him out for a further two weeks.

The Magpies are next in action a week on Saturday when they visit Stoke City and Pardew has already intimated Ireland will not be fit to make the trip to the Britannia Stadium.

Providing he does not suffer any further set-backs, that means Ireland will have eight games to impress Pardew and persuade the manager he is worth the figure Aston Villa want for the midfielder, believed to be in the region of £6m.

Although time is running out for the Irishman to impress, Pardew has indicated he will give the former Manchester City man every opportunity to earn a permanent move in the summer.

“We knew when we took him he was injured but this thigh strain, like anything when you’ve been out for a long time, you pick up these little injuries,” Pardew said.

“I don’t think he has played a game since December 9 or something.

“Maybe we forced him back too early because of Joey Barton’s situation. I think we’re at fault a little bit because he’s picked up a thigh strain.

“He’s still got time to impress me because I still think there is a chance of something permanent here for Stephen. Things at Villa aren’t going too well.

“I want to have a good look at him before he goes back. We haven’t got anything in place in terms of a deal, there wasn’t time and we took a chance, Villa took a chance and that’s where we are.

“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 have been very high profile when he was there, there were big players arriving but he was their best player.

“He’s a really nice guy, he’s fitted in well. I don’t think he needs an arm around the shoulder as such, but 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.”

Despite not having a fixture this weekend, Pardew opted against a warm-weather training camp and decided to give his side some time off.

With injuries mounting and some players struggling with fatigue, the boss hopes some rest will help get some players back fit for the trip to Stoke.

Jose Enrique and Stephen Ireland will be missing, but there are also question marks over the fitness of Barton and Jonas Guttierez.

“It’s a difficult situation, after the game at the weekend, we’ve got a lot of people in trouble with fatigue injuries.

There is tiredness in the camp and probably mental as much as physical,” the Magpies boss explained.

“We did think about taking the players away like we did before [to Portugal], but maybe a complete break from the game wouldn’t be the worst thing for this squad so we’re going to give them the rest of the week off.

“Some of the guys aren’t local so we’ll let them fly off and see their families. We’ll have a little break and all be back on Monday for a week’s work to prepare for Stoke.

“Jose Enrique looks doubtful for Stoke, but will be fine for Wolves we think. Joey Barton is touch and go, Stephen Ireland will definitely miss Stoke. Jonas is doubtful as well.

“Jose is a hamstring, Jonas is an ankle, Joey is thigh, Stephen is thigh, Nile we think will train on Monday, he got a bang on the shin which we think will be okay.”