 Newcastle United boss Glenn Roeder has tried to bring one of Arsenal's top young players on loan to St James' Park. But the bid has failed because Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger does not believe the un-named player is ready for the hurly-burly of regular Premiership football. And Roeder has admitted for the first time just how much he would love to sign West Brom's highly-rated 21-year-old central defender Curtis Davies. However, the fact that he is setting his sights on young quality players will be encouraging for the Newcastle United supporters, who know just how much the club desperately need some new blood in the January transfer window. Roeder was spotted at Anfield on January 9 on that amazing night when Arsenal beat Liverpool 6-3 in the Carling Cup quarter-final. All the talk was that the United boss and his coach Terry McDermott travelled to Merseyside to check on Liverpool striker Peter Crouch and left-back Stephen Warnock. But the real target was a young Arsenal player - and there were certainly plenty of them in the Gunners starting line up that night - 20-year-old Ivory Coast defender Johan Djourou, 18-year-old Brazilian midfielder Denilson, 17-year-old French left-back Armand Traore, Cameroon midfielder Alexandre Song Billong and French striker Jeremie Aliadiere. Roeder has already said Aliadiere was not his target and the French striker could yet end up down the road at Middlesbrough. All the United boss would say is: "We have asked Arsenal if we could have one of their young players on loan, but Arsene Wenger said he wants to keep him at the moment because he is not ready to play Premiership football week-in, week-out. "We have accepted Arsene's decision and, as far as this player is concerned, that is the end of the matter." Wenger has no fewer than eight players out on loan and United saw for themselves in the FA Cup tie with Birmingham City just how good Sebastian Larsson, Fabrice Muamba and Nicklas Bendtner are. Roeder is a great admirer of the way Wenger has implemented a scouting system that has seen so many top young players end up at the Emirates Stadium, and he would love to emulate this at St James'. But he would also like to buy a player before the transfer window closes at the end of the month. With former Hawthorns No 2 Nigel Pearson now at his side, Roeder knows all about Davies. When I asked the United boss just before Christmas whether he could use Pearson as a lever to sign Curtis, I got the impression that Roeder thought he was on his way to Manchester United as part of the arrangement which has seen West Brom keeper Tomasz Kuszczak on loan this season at Old Trafford. But Sir Alex Ferguson seems to have other fish to fry - England midfielder Owen Hargreaves, for example, with Bayern Munich saying the Reds have made a £20m bid. This has alerted Roeder that he could be in with a chance of Davies, but West Brom have stopped him in his tracks by hanging a £10m fee around the neck of their young skipper. This leads Roeder to admit: "Getting top-class young English defenders like Curtis Davies is proving a tough nut to crack. "I have to say he's one of the players we have targeted in the January window, but if we don't get him he has to be a possibility for the summer." | 
