Alan Pardew has insisted that Jordan Rhodes and Ross McCormack would not have been good enough to join Newcastle United this summer.
Hull City are believed to have bid £12m for Rhodes, while McCormack joined Fulham for £11m earlier in the transfer window.
The Magpies manager told The Chronicle: "I think the most important thing for us is we stay focused on what's happening and we are. The limitations in the forward market are very easy to see.
"Jordan Rhodes has gone and the price of the lad from West Brom (Shane Long) and the boy who went to Fulham. Do we want to bring a player like that to this football club? I don't think so.
"So we have to be conscious of trying to get a player that's right for us and who's good enough for us. And with all due respect to those guys I don't think they are good enough for us."
Newcastle face Aston Villa in the Premier League tomorrow.
