Newcastle Transfer News: Mathieu Debuchy Arrives in North East

Exclusive Breaking News; Lille and French international right-back Mathieu Debuchy has arrived in the North East and will complete his move to Newcastle United this week. Our reliable sources (the very same we heard from when we broke the story of Gael Bigirama signing) report that Debuchy landed at Newcastle airport earlier today after Newcastle finally agreed a fee with Lille for his services. Newcastle will trash out personal terms with Debuchy and he will undergo a medical either on Thursday but both these stages look like formalities as The Magpies look to have finally made a breakthrough for one of their big summer targets. Newcastle had seen an initial £4m offer rejected earlier this summer, but quickly returned to the negotiating table with a superior offer €“ closer to the £6m that Lille wanted for their much in demand full-back. Debuchy has signalled his intentions all summer to leave Lille and made it known he wants to join his close friend and international colleague Yohan Cabaye at Newcastle. His expected signing is likely to lead the way for Danny Simpson to leave Newcastle before the end of the transfer window. 27-year-old Debuchy has played over 200 times for Lille, scoring 15 times for the club he joined at just eight years old and matured through their youth academy. He is 1.77 m (5 ft 9 1„2 in) and is a good old fashioned attacking fullback who has also played in midfield. He has been capped nine times by France and was courted by Chelsea and Inter Milan but always made it known he wanted to join Newcastle's French revolution.