Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew expects the uncertainty over Yohan Cabaye's future at the club to go down to the wire on transfer deadline day.
He admits he does not know if the Frenchman has played his last game for the club after he made his first appearance of the Premier League season in Saturday's 1-0 win at home to Fulham.
Cabaye was appearing for the first time since he reportedly refused to play in an attempt to push through a move to Arsenal, who have had a £10 million ($15.5 million, 11.7 million euros) bid for the 27-year-old rejected.
With time running out until the September 2 transfer deadline, Pardew called on potential suitors to show their hand, saying: "I don't know if it's his last game for us until the deadline at 11 o'clock (2200GMT) on Monday.
"We've told his agent to play the game. We've got to replace him and we can't afford to replace him before he goes, because we're not sure he's going.
"That bid needs to come in early. If it doesn't, it won't happen. Do I think he will go? You can never tell at this club.
"The decision (to sell) is with us; we make a decision on whether we think it's right at the end of the day. We've only had one bid for him."
Pardew added: "We've got replacements in mind and we've got to act quickly if that bid for Yohan comes in. We're working towards getting an offensive player in before the deadline.
"It's been a good week, and if we can get through Monday by improving the squad, then we'll be in good shape."
Cabaye received a mixed reception from supporters when entering the fray as a 65th-minute substitute.
His appearance, along with a late debut for Loic Remy, helped inspire a strong finish from the hosts, who won via a late goal from another France international, Hatem Ben Arfa.
"The fans called it right," Pardew said. "Some were saying, 'We're weren't sure what you've done,' the other half were just pleased to see him and I think that was probably fair."
Pardew was losing patience with Ben Arfa before the winger's decisive 86th-minute strike ended Newcastle's near seven-hour wait for a Premier League goal.
"The goal was well worth waiting for," the Newcastle manager said.
"I was pulling my hair out with Hatem, to be honest. He was making bad decisions in terms of his selection of pass and doing what we wanted him to do.
"Then he produces a moment of magic to win the game; that's him. He may be slightly disfunctional at times, but he can win you a game at any level."
Ben Arfa said: "It was a good goal. I was trying all second half to score because we needed the win. I was trying a lot of shots. I'm not sure how, but I just hit it and I scored so I'm very happy.
"If we hadn't scored, we wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight. We've been trying and trying, and we finally got the goal. We're very happy. If we hadn't won or scored, we'd have had two very bad weeks going into the international break."
Fulham would have lost by a far greater margin but for a stand-out display from goalkeeper David Stockdale.
However, manager Martin Jol insists he will not be rushed into any last-minute panic buys, despite consecutive league defeats following the opening-day victory at Sunderland.
"We lacked a cutting edge and we should have done better," he said. "There are always wishes for any manager in the transfer window, but we'll just have to wait and see."
Source: AFP
