NEWCASTLE UNITED are close to completing the signing of French winger Florian Thauvin from Marseille in a £12m deal, with Remy Cabella heading in the opposite direction in an attempt to reignite his career in Ligue 1.

Cabella flew to France yesterday after Newcastle officials agreed to allow him to join Marseille on a season-long loan, with a view to a potential £6.5m permanent deal at the end of the season.

The 25-year-old had originally been reluctant to give up on his Magpies career after just one season in the Premier League, but with Steve McClaren warning him that his opportunities on Tyneside would be limited, he has been forced to accept that it would be better to return to France.

His willingness to enter into talks with the Marseille hierarchy has proved crucial in smoothing the way for Thauvin to join Newcastle as the French winger’s employers had been refusing to grant him permission to talk to the Magpies unless Cabella was included as part of the deal.

With that side of the agreement now in place, Thauvin is expected to undergo a medical and finalise personal terms before being confirmed as Newcastle’s fourth major signing of the summer.

The 22-year-old is a left-footed winger who is capable of playing on either flank, and having scouted him extensively over the course of the last 18 months, the Magpies’ recruitment team regard him as a much more natural wide player than Cabella.

McClaren is keen to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation he has trialled in his opening two games on Tyneside, and having worked with the likes of Stewart Downing and Adam Johnson at Middlesbrough, the Newcastle head coach is keen to generate as much width as possible from his attacking-midfield trio.

Having made his professional debut for Grenoble in 2011, Thauvin also played for Bastia before joining Lille in a €3.5m move in January 2013. Eight months later, and he was moving to Marseille for €15m, with his vastly-increased fee reflecting the extent of his impact on the French top-flight.

He has been a regular for France at Under-21 level, and claimed five goals last season as Marseille finished fourth in Ligue 1.

He will  leave the Stade Velodrome under something of a cloud, however, as he was involved in an altercation with supporters in the aftermath of Marseille’s 1-0 defeat to Caen in their opening game of the new season earlier this month, a result that led to the departure of the French club’s manager Marcelo Bielsa.

His arrival on Tyneside will take Newcastle’s summer spending above the £45m mark, although the excitement at his arrival should be tempered by an acknowledgement that Cabella arrived with similarly glowing references last summer.

The 25-year-old had been one of the Magpies’ main attacking targets for more than a year prior to his arrival, but he will leave having scored just one goal in his 34 senior appearances for the club.

Both Alan Pardew and John Carver regarded him as too lightweight for the rigours of the Premier League, and while McClaren had hoped to see him in action before deciding on his future, an injury-hit pre-season meant the former England boss was forced to draw conclusions from Cabella’s struggles over the course of the last 12 months.

While Cabella’s Newcastle career is effectively over, along with that of Mehdi Abeid, who was in Athens yesterday finalising a move to Panathinaikos, McClaren remains confident that Siem de Jong can still be a success at St James’ Park despite suffering a similarly difficult start to life in England.

Having started the opening-day draw with Southampton on the substitutes’ bench, de Jong was forced to sit out last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Swansea City after picking up a shin injury prior to the game.

The Dutchman was still having treatment for the problem on Monday, but is expected to be available for Saturday’s trip to Manchester United. Nevertheless, the injury setback follows a pattern of problems that has been evident throughout his time on Tyneside.

A succession of injuries restricted him to just one Premier League start last season, and the arrival of Georginio Wijnaldum in a £14.5m move from PSV Eindhoven this summer has provided increased competition for his preferred ‘number ten’ role.

Nevertheless, McClaren continues to insist that de Jong remains an important part of his plans, provided he can get himself back into peak condition.

“I think Siem has found that year out catching up with him,” he said. “He’s going to take a while getting to the right tempo and right level, but we can see it every day, that he's improving, getting better and he can see that too.

“He’s a player who can make a difference. He can assist and can score, and that’s a big weapon to have, those two things. He’s going to be a big asset for us.

“I remember when he came here, I remember thinking what a good signing that was. He’s yet to light the place up, but that’s purely because of injuries. He’s building up to get that chance, but yeah, at the present moment he’s fighting to get into the team.”