Saturday, 17th September, 2011
Newcastle United and Sunderland are on alert after Freiburg confirmed that striker Papiss Cisse could leave the club next summer for "a reasonable sum".
The Senegal hitman was disappointed when Freiburg rejected a bid for his services from Newcastle in the summer transfer window, while Sunderland have also long tracked the forward.
Steve Bruce is likely to accelerate his interest in Cisse in January as he searches for a replacement for Asamoah Gyan, who headed to the Middle East on a loan deal earlier this month. But the Sunderland manager may have better luck next summer, as Cisse’s Bundesliga side have intimated.
Freiburg have taken the unusual step of increasing Cisse’s wages as part of a new deal, but not the length of his contract, which still runs until 2014.
The Bundesliga side hope this will prevent speculation growing that the striker could leave the club in the winter transfer window, and also satisfy the player himself, who had claimed he was ready to take the next step in his career.
And while no release clause has been confirmed or denied by Freiburg, the club’s sporting director Dirk Dufner was quick to state that Cisse could leave next summer for "a reasonable sum."
He continued: "We have increased Papiss’ salary because of the performances he has shown, and it is within our means.
"We hope new speculation [about a winter move] does not arise, but we cannot stop it."
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