Barton has 18 months left on his current contract with the Magpies. Pardew has admitted that he is also keen for Jose Enrique to sign a new deal.
“I had a meeting this week with the owner Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias, and the main thing that emerged from that was a desire to keep our core players,” said Pardew.
“It’s nice to be able to bring someone in, but it’s proving difficult because it’s a time when everyone is looking at deals and thinking, ‘Is it really right to go overboard in this window and upset the balance of your squad?’
“The most important players are the ones that are doing well for us right now. That’s been my focus.
“We’ve obviously secured Steven Taylor, Joey Barton’s got 18 months to go and we want to look at him and we want to look at Jose Enrique as well.”
