CHEICK TIOTE has urged Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley to make Loic Remy’s loan move permanent in the summer after the striker continued his impressive start to life on Tyneside.

Remy’s brace earned the Magpies a crucial win at Cardiff last weekend, which lifted the pressure off manager Alan Pardew after back-to-back defeats had brought speculation surrounding his job.

The French striker’s goalscoring exploits at the weekend took his tally to five in three consecutive games for the Tynesiders and already there are calls for Ashley and director of football Joe Kinnear to move quickly to seal a permanent deal for Remy, who is currently on a season-long loan deal from Queens Park Rangers.

In a post match interview in south Wales, Remy played it cool over his future and insisted he would take it game by game when asked it he would like to stay beyond the end of the season, but the former Marseille front man did reveal he was enjoying life on Tyneside.

The Magpies paid a £2m loan fee to bring Remy to St James’ Park in the summer, but there is confusion as to whether they secured an option to automatically make move permanent.

It was muted Queens Park Rangers would accept £6m on top of the loan fee for the striker, who Harry Redknapp has already revealed is unlikely to return to Loftus Road.

Whether a permanent deal will be struck remains to be seen, but the Magpies will have to act quickly if Remy’s goalscoring exploits begin to attract other potential suitors.

Tiote, who turned in his best performance of the season last weekend, admits Remy’s goals will be crucial to the Magpies this season and the Ivorian has urged Ashley to make sure he is signed up permanently.

“Loic is very important for us. He’s a great player and he scored two more fantastic goals,” Tiote said. “I hope he will continue to score because we need him and we need his goals, they are so important for us and at Cardiff they were the difference between winning and losing.

“He’s going to be important for us this season and I think if he continues to score and play like he did we will be able to finish in the top ten.

“I hope the chairman will buy him. You never know, but he’s already shown how important he is for us and it would be a big loss if he didn’t sign at the end of the season.”

Last weekend’s win moved Newcastle up to 11th in the table after a worrying few weeks, but following the international break the Magpies face a daunting run which includes Liverpool, Sunderland, Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham.

Tiote admits the win at Cardiff was even more important given their upcoming schedule and he although they now face a two-week break the midfielder believes the result could kick-start their season.

He said: “The first game (against Man City) was really difficult and we were nowhere near as good as we can play. After that we came back and won but then lost another couple of games. To beat Cardiff was so important for us and I hope we will continue to do the same.

“I think this result could kick-start our season. It will be good for the players, because we will go away with a good feeling and come back in a positive mood.

“The run we have made it even more important we got a result. Liverpool isn’t going to be an easy game, it’s going to be tough. We have a bit of time to rest and prepare for a very hard game.”