PAPISS CISSE has underlined his continued commitment to Newcastle United after Wolfsburg head coach, Dieter Hecking, urged leading Magpies transfer target Bas Dost to reject a move to St James’ Park.

Cisse’s future has been cast into doubt following a frustrating season that saw him serve two lengthy suspensions as well as suffer a succession of injury setbacks.

The Senegal international managed just 11 Premier League starts last term, but his tally of 11 goals was still sufficient to make him Newcastle’s leading goalscorer.

Nevertheless, with Turkish side Besiktas heading a lengthy list of clubs interested in acquiring his services this summer, the Magpies’ recruitment team are considering selling the 30-year-old to help fund the acquisition of two new attackers.

Having signed Cisse from Freiburg for £9m in January 2012, Newcastle would be willing to listen to offers of around £12m this summer.

But while a decision over his future could effectively be taken out of his hands, Cisse insists he has no desire to leave Tyneside and is looking forward to leading the line once again next season.

“I am here and I am a Newcastle striker,” said the number nine. “I have a one-year-and-a-half contract with this team.

“I just think about my holiday, then I go back to try to work hard. I try to be part of a good team and do something next year.”

Resolving Cisse’s future will be one of the key challenges facing Steve McClaren and the rest of Newcastle’s recruitment team in the next few weeks.

Financially, it would make sense to cash in on the striker before he enters the final 12 months of his current deal, but accepting an offer for Cisse would pile even more pressure onto the club’s pursuit of attacking reinforcements.

With Charlie Austin reluctant to leave London, Newcastle have turned their attentions to Dost, a 26-year-old Dutchman who scored 20 Bundesliga goals with Wolfsburg last season.

The Magpies are understood to have discussed the possibility of a £10m deal with Wolfsburg officials, and are increasingly hopeful that the German runners-up could be persuaded to sell Dost despite their qualification for next season’s Champions League.

Whether Dost would agree to move to Tyneside is another matter however, with German giants Borussia Dortmund lining up a counter-offer of their own.

Wolfsburg boss Hecking is desperate to retain Dost’s services for at least another season, and has launched a thinly-veiled swipe at Newcastle, claiming his side’s leading goalscorer would be stupid to leave his current employers for a team that only avoided relegation to the Championship on the final day of last season.

“Why does Bas want to go there? He can play in the next season’s Champions League with us,” said Hecking. “He will not be able to do that next season at Newcastle, nor probably in the following season at Newcastle. We don’t want to let any of our players go.”

Newcastle’s scouting team spent a large chunk of last season assessing potential options in the Bundesliga, with Schalke centre-half Joel Matip emerging as a leading defensive target.

Matip, a 23-year-old Cameroon international, is contracted to Schalke until 2016, but the Magpies had hoped to prise him away for a fee of around €10m.

An initial inquiry has been lodged, but Schalke sporting director Horst Heldt is adamant Matip will not be going anywhere this summer.

“Joel Matip does not want to go to Newcastle,” said Heldt. “He wants to stay at Schalke. It is out of the question for him to make a move away from Schalke, although we have not negotiated about a new contract for him yet.”

As revealed in yesterday’s Northern Echo, former Valencia assistant Ian Cathro is set to accept a prominent position in Newcastle’s new backroom set-up.