Newcastle Transfer News: Debuchy Set To Sign Today

According to Talksport radio and Skysports, Alan Pardew is set to unveil a significant signing today, with Lille's French international right-back Mathieu Debuchy said to be on the verge of joining the North East club. Newcastle had seen an initial £4m offer rejected, but quickly returned to the negotiating table with a superior offer - closer to the £6m or so Lille were said to want before Euro 2012 - which was still under consideration at the start of this week. And now it seems Newcastle's negotiators have managed to thrash out a deal with the club, from which they signed midfielder Yohan Cabaye last season, and Debuchy is now expected to sign for the club. We initially heard from a source on Tuesday that Debuchy was in Newcastle to sort out personal terms, but as the source had no track record, we held off on reporting, but it seems that the reports may have had some weight given this latest development. As recently as yesterday, the media were reporting that Lille were confident of keeping Debuchy, with club president Michel Seydoux clearly hopeful that Debuchy could sign a new deal with his current club in a conversation with French radio station RMC :

€œMathieu is on vacation. Let him rest. I think Mathieu is an essential element of the design of our game and he knows it. We€™ll see how things will slowly evolve.€

On the same day, Mercato365 in France suggested that coach Rudy Garcia was trying to talk Debuchy into staying with a pay rise to around £45,000 a week or around 3million euro a year. These reports come on the same day that Danny Simpson is again linked with a move to newly promoted Reading, after refusing a new contract at St James Park - a deal that Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias were resisting until they knew a replacement was lined up. So what do you think Newcastle fans? Will Debuchy make a good addition to the current squad? Share your thoughts below...