Alan Pardew wants 'one or two' new players but has no plans to sell Salomon Rondon

Liverpool and Everton have been surprisingly linked with the Venezuelan in recent days, although the Baggies have received no bids for their No.9.

Even if they had done, Pardew would be reluctant to sell, because Rondon is a big part of his plans for the rest of the season.

"Salomon has been absolutely brilliant since I’ve been here," said Pardew. "He has been playing terrific football without getting reward in terms of goals.

"That’s the next part of the ingredient for him, in my tenure here.

"He showed his leadership quality in response to McCarthy’s injury. We wish him the best. But we go on. Salomon is not part of any deal."

Albion were linked with an audacious move for World Cup winner Andre Schurrle, but Pardew played down the speculation.

"Agents release this to feather their own nest," said Pardew. "Oh we’re interested to get another club interested and the like.

"The only thing I will confirm is what you already know, is that Jonny Evans is a target for other clubs.

"We won’t necessarily need to sell first. We might sell if the price is right. Everything else is pure speculation. If we are going to do something I'm not going to tell you, and I wouldn't tell you."

Albion's head coach is still hoping to make additions to his squad, whether Evans is sold or not, but the club are waiting to see whether their skipper goes before moving on deals already in place.

Pardew, however, dismissed the notion it was imperative for the club's survival chances.

"I’m not sure about survival chances," he said. "If you look at the Premier League, we’re four points off 14th. It’s so very very tight. All the clubs are manouvering and we’re all nervous.

"From Jose Mourinho to Pep Guardiola to me and anybody else around the bottom. We’re all nervous because we’d all like to move our squads if we can.

"To bring in one or two players that could give the group a lift. We’re definitely one of those teams.

"Is it more important for us than others? I don’t know. That’s where we are at the moment and we’re trying to do business right now."

Albion travel to Liverpool tomorrow night for a fourth round FA Cup tie, and even though they've been hit by an illness bug, Pardew is confident the Baggies can progress.

"Any cup tie is winnable," he said. "When I was at Crystal Palace we drew Spurs away who were flying at the time and we beat them 1-0 with a sounds performance. It's not impossible.

"It's a daunting task don't get me wrong. Klopp has got a squad there that he can probably name 23 or 24 players and give us a tough game.

"We hopefully play with a little bit more freedom with the ball, without the ball we're brilliant at the moment.

"The Everton performance was probably the best I've ever seen without the ball.

"We made it very difficult for them and made them look very awkward. It's going to be even more difficult at Anfield with Liverpool's quality up top of the pitch, but we'll try."