Tiote has only played 34 minutes in the friendlies and despite an initial £800,000 offer being turned down by Newcastle, Abu Dhabi’s Al Jazira are now said to be close to agreeing a fee United.
With Rafa Benitez having made clear he intends to bring in further players, the departure of the likes of Florian Thauvin and Cheick Tiote certainly won’t hinder that process.
Fingers crossed that a move does happen shortly for Thauvin, as the last thing Newcastle need is a repeat of when the French winger went on strike at Lille to force a transfer to Marseille.