The African was determined to make the move to St James’ Park, and travelled through the night in order to make it happen and become the Toon’s new No 9.
Papiss Cisse: “It’s been very quick.
“An agreement was only finalised between the two clubs at 8pm last night and then I headed to Newcastle.
“I was told to be at the airport at 10pm so I had little opportunity to do much.”
Cisse first learned of the move to Newcastle just after 8pm on Monday night, but was given just a couple of hours to prepare for a flight from Dakhar to Paris before arriving on Tyneside via a private jet in the early hours of yesterday morning.
He then made his way to the club’s Benton base where he completed the formalities of the move, met Alan Pardew and Derek Llambias before agreeing to be United’s No 9.
The player was whisked back to Paris via private jet before catching a connection to Dakhar, where he will link up with his international team-mates.
Cisse will now face games in Group A against Equatorial Guinea, Zambia and Libya.