Newcastle United are close to sealing a €12M swoop for Senegal hitman Papiss Cisse.

 

A fee has been agreed with Cisse’s Bundesliga side Freiburg, who pounced to snap up 26-year-old forward Sebastian Freis from 1.FC Koln just hours before sanctioning the sale.

 

Cisse has flown into Newcastle to put the finishing touches on his dream move, with the striker having repeatedly declared his wish to play in the English Premier League over the past 12 months.

 

To complete the deal, the 26-year-old needed to leave Senegal’s training base where he had been preparing to take part in the African Cup of Nations, alongside Newcastle goal-getter Demba Ba, a player he will now link up with at St. James’ Park.

 

Cisse’s arrival will come as something of a shock to the Magpies faithful as boss Alan Pardew had stated on 28th December that the club would not be entering the winter window to bag a striker.

 

The Senegal international had been under contract with Freiburg until 2014.

 

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