NEWCASTLE UNITED have boosted their forward line with the surprise €12 million signing of the Freiburg striker Papiss Demba Cisse (26), a Senegal team-mate of Demba Ba, who has scored 15 times for the club this season.
The strikers are currently on Africa Cup of Nations duty with their country but the Freiburg player flew from Senegal’s training camp to Tyneside for his medical yesterday. Cisse had previously been linked with Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur, and last summer he was widely valued at €17 million. “Cisse travelled to Newcastle with our permission,” said a Freiburg spokesman, and has been allowed to leave after they recruited Sebastian Freis from Cologne.
The Senegalese moved to Freiburg from Metz in 2009 and has often been preferred to Ba for their country. Ba has scored 15 times for Newcastle this season but Cisse scored the only goal of Senegal’s final warm-up game for the Africa Cup of Nations, against Kenya’s under-23 team, and has managed nine goals in the Bundesliga this season.
Newcastle’s manager Alan Pardew attempted to sign a high-profile striker during the last transfer window but instead only landed Ba, a free transfer with fitness issues, although he has proved to be a revelation at St James’ Park.
Cisse will wear the famous number nine shirt on Tyneside. “I would like to thank everybody for their welcome, and for inviting me to sign for the club,” he said.
“It is an honour to play for such a big club and I am looking forward to it. I want to pay back the confidence the club have shown in me, and give the supporters something to be proud of.” There remains the possibility that Demba Ba could be tempted from Newcastle at the end of the season as a release clause in his contract could be set as low as €7.5 million.
GuardianService
