MOUSSA SISSOKO is banking on Real Madrid – or a Champions League chasing English club –striking a cut-price agreement with Newcastle United for his services to avoid spending the next four months in the Championship, at least.

The France midfielder has moved again to reveal his wish to play at the highest level only this time he has admitted “I want to leave” in another interview conducted away from the Magpies.

Newcastle are happy for Sissoko to move on this summer but are demanding £35m from interested clubs otherwise Rafael Benitez, the manager, has insisted the player will be part of his squad in the Championship.

The 26-year-old’s preference would be to join Real Madrid and he knows there is some level of interest in him from the Bernabeu. However, Zinedine Zidane is unlikely to have him in his squad if they have to pay that price.

Paris St Germain are believed to have dropped out of the running for him, while Manchester United had shown a degree of interest but the record-busting £89m deal for compatriot and fellow midfielder Paul Pogba has almost certainly brought an end to that.

Juventus, who have the cash from the Pogba sale, remain keen, while Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admires him but has enough midfielders at this stage. Tottenham and Liverpool have previously indicated to his representatives that they would be interested if the price was right.

Sissoko, though, has clearly made up his mind that he needs to leave before the end of the month, with Benitez unlikely to include him in the squad to face Huddersfield on Saturday following his latest public move to get out of the club.

“I hope Real will come for me, I’m still waiting,” Sissoko told the BBC World Service. “If Real Madrid are interested in you then of course you will be happy, but right now I am still a Newcastle player.

“I spent three and a half years here. I gave everything for this club and I want to play some big games. For that I need to go somewhere else.

“I want to play in the Premier League, I want to play for a big club who can get into the Champions League. That’s why I said I want to leave this year.

“I've spent a lot of time here and now it’s time to look forward. The fans need to understand my situation, I hope they will and that everything will be OK.”

Sissoko has trained for the last fortnight to build up his fitness and Benitez has weighed up whether to include him in the squad to face the Terriers, when there will be a sell-out 52,000 crowd likely to turn on him during the first home game.

Benitez has made a number of new signings this summer and is hopeful of landing Everton youngster Brendan Galloway on a season-long loan before the first home date of the season.

Newcastle suffered frustration on the opening night in the Championship when they lost 1-0 at Fulham in front of 7,000 travelling supporters at Craven Cottage. Dwight Gayle, the £10m striker who struggled for service last Friday, knows the Magpies could do without suffering stage fright for a second time.

"It's going to be a fantastic day on Saturday - 52,000-sell out,” said Gayle. “It'll be an amazing day, but it'll only be a good day if we win. We need to try to take that out of our minds and try to just focus on what we've been told and the tactics - every one of us.

"Obviously, it was a great achievement for me to be playing at a club like this, and to see the 7,000 fans travelling that far was great for the team at Fulham last week.

"Having them behind us is going to be great for us. We're going to need to keep them onside, and we can do that by putting in performances at home and showing them a good game on Saturday.”

Newcastle have confirmed the season-long loan deal that sees Florian Thauvin join Marseille has finally been tied up.

The deal was agreed last week but it has taken until now for the paperwork to be concluded. Thauvin, who could face Toulouse in the Ligue 1 opener on Sunday, will join Marseille permanently at the end of the season too.

The 23-year-old only joined Newcastle 12 months ago and spent the second half of last season on loan at the Stade Velodrome.

He had featured in four of Newcastle’s five pre-season friendlies but departs having played just 16 competitive appearances for the club, and only five of those were starts.