THERE COULD SOON be another Demba on Tyneside after it emerged this afternoon that Newcastle United have agreed to bring in Papiss Demba Cisse from Freiburg.
The 26-year-old is understood to have left Senegal’s African Cup of Nations training camp to fly to England and finalise a deal.
Ba has been a revelation this season and linking him up with his international team-mate, who finished second top scorer in Germany to Mario Gomez last season, could be a shrewd move by Alan Pardew.
There was interest from Newcastle’s rivals Sunderland last week but they look beaten now as some of the Andy Carroll cash finally goes on a player with goals in them.
Another manager who seems set to part ways with a few quid is Mark Hughes.
The QPR boss wants to pay €6m on a loan deal for Brazilian prodigy Henrique. Sao Paolo’s frontman was the star of the show at last summer’s U20 World Cup and was voted Player of the Tournament so it would be a major coup for Sparky if he pulls off an 18-month agreement.
Meanwhile in France, Carlo Ancelotti has said that agents are throwing strikers at him like there’s no tomorrow.
The newly-instated PSG manager says he has been offered Fernando Torres, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov and Roman Pavlyuchenko during this transfer window. Tevez is the one he fancies most but I seem to remember that we were here before so don’t hold your breath.
Having been rebuffed by Marseille’s Loic Remy, Harry Redknapp could now come in for Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente. But Liverpool are also monitoring the 26-year-old’s situation.
The attractive brand of football which Swansea have exhibited since being promoted has seen the Welsh club gain a fair few admirers.
There could be a downside however, as several opposing managers are intent on picking off Brendan Rodgers’s star performers.
Joe Allen and Scott Sinclair are the subjects of interest from Liverpool while goalkeeper Michel Vorm’s agent has revealed that Manchester United, Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs have all enquired about signing the Dutchman, who has had a fine season so far.
Alex Ferguson is also reported to be interested in FC Basel teenager Granit Xhaka.
The 19-year-old Swiss midfielder has plenty of options however, as Juventus, Hamburg, AC Milan and Lazio want a piece of him.
