NEWCASTLE UNITED will head out to Portugal later today with manager Alan Pardew confident Joe Kinnear will have completed his first signing as director of football by the weekend.

Kinnear stayed on Tyneside last night in a bid to finalise a deal with Aston Villa for striker Darren Bent rather than head for Fir Park to watch the Magpies win their first pre-season friendly of the summer 4-2 against Motherwell.

Bent is Newcastle's leading transfer target and Kinnear is also interested in Porto defender Rolando, which could gather pace during the next seven days.

Pardew said: “I would expect to be down the road with a transfer when we are in Portugal. I am hoping that Joe and Lee Charnley (club secretary) get something over the line.”

Newcastle will take a strong first team squad to Portugal today which will include Senegal striker Papiss Cisse and Yohan Cabaye.

Cisse has been in talks with the club aimed at coming up with a solution to his reluctance to wear the new Wonga-sponsored Newcastle shirt because of his religious beliefs. Frenchman Cabaye, meanwhile, continues to be linked with a £20m move to Paris St Germain. But both players are expected to be on the plane today and Pardew hopes to see all of the senior internationals figure in the second friendly in Portugal against Pacos de Ferreira next Tuesday.

The Newcastle boss said: “We are all going. It will be the first team who are all back now that go, so we are looking to take our strongest squad with us.

“It's too early for some of them to play on Saturday against Rio Ave, these guys out here (at Motherwell) are way ahead of the others.

“It will be a similar sort of side that plays the first game in Portugal that played here. Hopefully in Portugal the internationals can get up to the fitness levels of some of these guys. It was nice to see the way we played here.”

Newcastle did include Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Goufrran, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Vurnon Anita in their starting line-up which won in Lanarkshire.

But there were also a number of other positive displays from youngsters such as left-back Paul Dummett and Haris Vuckic, playing his first match since rupturing knee ligaments last October.

Sissoko played solidly as one of two holding midfielders alongside Anita – which is expected to be a familiar theme next season – and created the first goal inside eight minutes. Gouffran's initial shot from the pass was saved and Vuckic was on hand to side-foot over the line.

Seven minutes later the same combination added the second. Vuckic found space outside the box, rolled in to the path of Gouffran who applied the finish.

Motherwell's Iain Vigurs pulled one back in the 24th minute by drilling low from the edge of the area after Yanga-Mbiwa's weak headed clearance.

But Newcastle added a third before the break when Sissoko was afforded too much space in the area to volley on target, where goalkeeper Lee Hollis allowed the ball to squirm beyond him and over the line.

There was another Motherwell goal when Sissoko was harshly adjudged to have tripped Stuart Carswell in the box seven minutes in. James McFadden, released by Sunderland after the new year, cheekily chipped straight down the centre of the goal from the spot, much to the delight of the home support.

But Newcastle regained a two-goal cushion in the 64th minute when Dummett's perfect delivery across the six-yard box was met by substitute Sylvain Marveaux to convert.

Pardew said: “I was happy with that. I want our levels to be super high and it has shown tonight that our fitness levels are high. We also had a few bonuses, Haris was terrific on his return, Dummett is knocking on the door of the first team. He could not have done any more, he was man of the match.”

MOTHERWELL (4-4-2): Hollis; (Nielsen 46) Ramsden, Hutchinson, Cummins (Francis-Angol 46), Hammell; Lasley (Moore 74), Lawson (Kerr 46), Vigurs (Murray 74); Carswell; Anier (Erwin 82), McHugh (McFadden 46). Subs: Nielsen (gk), Kerr.

NEWCASTLE (4-2-3-1): Elliot; Tavernier, Williamson (S Taylor 46), Yanga-Mbiwa (Streete 82), Dummett; Anita (Richardson 82), Sissoko (Abeid 67); Obertan (Ferguson 74), Vuckic (Marveaux 46), S Ameobi (Amalfitano 82); Gouffran (Campbell 58). Subs: Alnwick (gk).

Attendance: 4,475