Newcastle hopeful of signing Lyon’s ‘Baby Drogba’

Newcastle: Newcastle United hope to make a long-awaited summer transfer market breakthrough despite Lyon rejecting their £6.9 million (Dh39 million) offer for striker Bafetimbi Gomis on Sunday.

Although the Ligue 1 club want £8.6 million and Gomis — dubbed ‘Baby Drogba’ in France — is also coveted by Marseille and Fulham, negotiations over a compromise are continuing and Newcastle remain optimistic of sealing a deal for the 27-year-old. who has only 12 months remaining on his contract at Lyon.

With Alan Pardew, Newcastle’s manager, not directly involved in transfers, Joe Kinnear, the club’s controverisal new director of football, is under increasing pressure to deliver the two new forwards Pardew craves.

Apart from the twin pursuit of Gomis and Aston Villa’s Darren Bent, Kinnear is exploring the possibility of signing Loic Remy, another striker, on a season’s loan from Queens Park Rangers. Remy, who almost moved to Tyneside from Marseille for nearly £9 million in January but instead opted for £70,000-a-week wages at Loftus Road, is on bail after being arrested in May on suspicion of rape, an allegation he denies.

Depending on the rate of progress in the Gomis deal, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Kinnear’s first signing could be the unlikely figure of Phil Bardsley from Sunderland. The full-back has been deemed surplus to requirements by Paolo Di Canio after a well-documented night out in a casino late last season and is on Newcastle’s shopping list.

Meanwhile, Pardew’s side won a friendly at Blackpool on Sunday 1-0 thanks to a Shola Ameobi goal. During the match Newcastle fans — who appear underwhelmed by Bardsley’s potential arrival — were reported as chanting: “Stand up if you hate Kinnear” and unfurled a banner emblazoned with “Support the team not the regime”.

Papiss Cisse, who last week agreed to wear kit bearing the logo of Wonga, Newcastle’s sponsor, did not travel to Blackpool. He remained on Tyneside working on his fitness alongside Hatem Ben Arfa, who missed much of last season through injury.