Newcastle close to signing Remy as Pardew fills striking void NEWCASTLE United were last night closing in on the signing of striker Loic Remy from Marseille. The 26-year-old forward has been linked with a number of Barclays Premier League clubs, but Marseille president Vincent Labrune indicated that the Magpies are at the head of the queue. And, yesterday evening, Remy was left out of Marseille's squad for their Ligue 1 clash with Sochaux after being given the go-ahead to open talks over a move to the north east of England. Labrune told RMC Sport radio station in France: "We have an agreement in principle with Newcastle, it is true. We have therefore given Loic permission to chat with them. For the rest, we must wait patiently. Remy's Marseille team-mate Joey Barton, himself a former Newcastle player, appeared to indicate the deal was done when he tweeted: "Good luck to Loic in Newcastle. Don't worry i've told him what to expect. Great guy. Perfect club for him. #toonarmy Last night Newcastle, though, were yet to make any official confirmation of the deal being finalised. Remy has featured in 14 Ligue 1 games for Marseille this season but has only started in two of them and only has one league goal so far this term. However, he netted 12 goals last season in the league, having hit 15 the season before, and would give Newcastle boss Alan Pardew a significant new option up front, something he feels is desperately needed after Demba Ba's transfer to Chelsea. "It is pretty obvious that we need another striker," Pardew said after the goalless draw against Norwich on Saturday afternoon. We didn't really have the chance to mix it up or an option so we had to stick to the game plan that we had at the start of the game. Norwich could bring on Grant Holt to change the gameplan a bit but we don't have that luxury. So we need to recruit in the next couple of weeks. Despite the concerns over his options up front, Pardew was happy to see his team end their losing streak and record their first league clean sheet away from home all season. With key games coming up against Reading, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Tottenham, Pardew knows his team must start winning matches - and he is confident they will do just that. "With the two games we have next we have a chance to gain some momentum," said Pardew, who welcomed influential midfielder Yohan Cabaye back at the weekend after a two-month groin injury lay-off. It was a really important day today. Then we have Chelsea at home. If we have our best players available then we will give them a good game. Getting Cabaye back was a massive lift for us. He had 20 minutes and he will start next week.