STEVE McCLAREN remains confident Newcastle are “close” to another transfer breakthrough, even though Aleksandar Mitrovic continues to stall on a proposed £12m move from Anderlecht.

Mitrovic is still to respond to the Magpies’ latest attempts to wrap up his transfer, with sources in Belgium claiming he is continuing to hold out for a possible move to Porto.

The Portuguese side have confirmed their interest in the Serbian striker, but are still to agree an acceptable fee with Anderlecht or finalise personal terms.

Newcastle officials remain reasonably confident that their bid will trump anything on offer from Porto officials, but the longer the impasse continues, the greater the temptation to walk away and look elsewhere.

As things stand, Newcastle’s recruitment team are likely to wait until the end of the week before pressing Mitrovic and his agent, Pini Zahavi, for a final decision.

They continue to monitor alternative attacking targets, most notably Wolfsburg forward Bas Dost, but McClaren remains hopeful that a deal for Mitrovic can be concluded.

The Newcastle head coach presided over a 2-1 defeat to Mexican side Club Atlas in the opening game of his side’s US tour yesterday morning, before outlining his continued hope that a second summer signing would be confirmed shortly.

Newcastle’s first arrival, Dutch international Georginio Wijnaldum, travelled to America yesterday and should be available for the Magpies’ weekend game with Sacramento Republic, who beat Sunderland yesterday morning.

“The plans continue and work goes on behind the scenes back home,” said McClaren. “We’re close. Wijnaldum is coming out and that will be good – we’ll get him in with the boys. As for the rest of the recruitment, we will wait and see.”

Siem de Jong was part of the Newcastle side that lost at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, but while the result might not have gone the Magpies’ way against Club Atlas, the Dutchman was able to discern some positive signs when it came to the general pattern of his team’s play.

“We want to play more from the back and keep the ball a little bit more,” said de Jong. “Of course it’s a little bit new for some players, so we need to train and (play like that) in the games as well. Sometimes, when we make a mistake in the games, we make it harder for ourselves, but we need to keep doing it.”

De Jong knows Wijnaldum well from his time in the Eredivisie, and cannot wait to welcome his compatriot to Newcastle’s training set-up.

“He’s a good player,” he said. “He likes to be on the ball and is good offensively, but he’s also strong and can help defensively. He’s quite a versatile player, who can play a couple of positions, so he can be a good contributor for the team.”

Gonzalo Bergessio’s early double condemned Newcastle to defeat against Club Atlas, with the striker converting from the spot following a foul from Jamaal Lascelles before lofting a lob over Tim Krul.

Newcastle clawed a goal back on the stroke of half-time, with Moussa Sissoko playing a crisp one-two with Papiss Cisse before slotting home from ten yards.

Newcastle: Krul (Darlow 46); Janmaat (Bigirimana 72), Williamson, Lascelles, Haidara (Ferguson 72); Anita, Colback; Sissoko (Obertan 72), de Jong (Perez 72), Gouffran (Aarons 72); Cisse (Armstrong 72).