Have we had enough confirmation yet?

Are we there yet? Can we finally we finally nod heads at a job well done by the club? Have we had enough confirmation that Yohan Cabaye is soon to be a Newcastle player?

The answer to all of those questions is no as it stands and nothing is ever official until it pops up on the club website blah blah, but I would suggest that enough caveats from enough people that matter have been dropped to allow us to start pondering just how Yohan Cabaye will take to life in a black and white shirt.

It's been rumoured for days now that the transfer of Cabaye from Lille to Newcastle would be imminent. Rumours have spread like wildfire and the last few days have been full of various reports and tweets and other bits of gossip. However I would say now that we can tentatively toast our first signing of the summer considering the player and his manager have both confirmed that he is to move to Newcastle.

Those of you who watched the Lille game last night will have seen one of the most poignant farewell moments ever to have been witnessed on a football pitch. Cabaye was subbed towards the end of the match which signal an outpouring of emotion from the crowd and gave his soon to be former team-mates the chance to show their appreciation to the player - each one in turn gave him a hug as he left the pitch.

His seemingly soon to be former manager, Rudi Garcia, had this to say in his post-match press conference:

“Yohan announced yesterday to me first, then the whole group, that he has made his choice to join Newcastle. It is a choice that I respect, although I would have liked him to stay with us.”

Of course there are still things that can go wrong with the pending transfer so until it is official from our end I'll not pop the corks fully. I'll just keep that champagne on ice ready, hopefully, for when it does become official.

At a fee of around €5 million you would have to say that it is a good deal. The club have pulled off another coup if the deal gets completed and have landed a current French international for a knock down price. If they keep the spending down by acquiring players of Cabaye's quality then I'll be a happy man come the end of the transfer window.

I read somewhere that the wage on offer from us was £60,000-a-week although I would suggest that €60,000-a-week (around £50,000) is probably closer to the mark. It's still not a bad wedge though to be fair. Where is Steve Wraith and his proclamations of that £25,000-a-week wage cap again?

For those wondering just why it isn't confirmed by NUFC as yet, apparently it's because Cabaye is part of the France squad that will play Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in the coming weeks. After that it is expected that Cabaye will fly to Newcastle and conclude the deal.

So there you go - officially unofficial, but for how long?