MPENZA DEAL CLOSE

The 21-year-old scored a memorable strike against Sweden in the opening game of this year's European championships and has so far scored eight goals in 27 international appearances.

However his club manager, Schalke 04's Rudi Assauer told German newspaper Das Bild: "The transfer is not yet finalised."

But Bobby Robson is believed to have been tracking Mpenza for some time, certainly before Euro 2000 started.  The speedy striker would give Newcastle an option they have not had for some time, raw pace.

Robson confirmed the reports saying: "We have to solve some details but Mpenza will be a Magpie soon."

'Magic' as he is known in Germany has also been tracked by Napoli and Tottenham but The Magpies are believed to have made a late bid to steal Mpenza away from their competitors.

Emile is the younger of the two Mpenza brothers, Mbo who is the eldest plays for Sporting Lisbon one of the two Portuguese clubs that Robson managed.

The two brothers played on the same team up till their time with Standard Liege when Emile went to Germany and Mbo went to Portugal.  Previously they had played for KV Kortrijk and Excelsior Mouscron.

Meanwhile Newcastle have agreed to play a friendly against Barcelona in Spain on August 12, a week before the Premiership starts.