Steve McClaren close to bringing Georginio Wijnaldum to Newcastle United for £14.5m

Papiss Demba Cisse gets the better of Gateshead skipper Ben Clark at the Intermational Stadium

The Magpies boss was speaking after watching his side begin their pre-season campaign with a 1-0 win over Gateshead.

The build-up to the game had been dominated by the move for Wijnaldum, after the PSV Eindhoven star jetted into Tyneside for a medical.

McClaren admitted the 24-year-old midfielder’s transfer is close to being sealed, and that he will be a massive addition to his Newcastle squad.

“There’s no secret,” said McClaren. “He has been seen around the place, he’s having a medical and all the scans that go with it.

“Hopefully we will get the results tomorrow and we can announce something. It’s not official, it is not over the line.

“I know him very well from when I was in Holland. He was a pain at Feyenoord and for PSV against my teams.

“He brings great quality and can play in any position in midfield .

“His physicality is good, tempo good. He will be a good player in the Premier League.”

Newcastle are also hoping to tie up a deal for Anderlecht striker Aleksander Mitrovic after the player’s agent, Pini Zuhavi, arrived on Tyneside for talks over a £13million move.

The 20-year-old Serb has been linked with a number of clubs, including Roma and Porto.

It’s not certain that a deal for Mitrovic will be completed before the club flies out to USA on Sunday for their pre-season tour, and McClaren was coy over other targets.

He added: “We have one or two other things that are very close that we can’t really comment because it’s fragile and sensitive as you can expect with players’ agents and deals.

“Certainly Lee Charnley and Graham Carr are doing their best behind the scenes to get the right deals. We have to be patient.”