Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa becomes lastest addition to Newcastle's French legion

Defender completes £6.7m switch to St James' Park

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa drew interest from Arsenal (Getty Images)

Newcastle last night completed the signing of Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa from Montpellier for £6.7 million in what is expected to be the first of a cluster of players moving from France to the North east of England.

The 23-year-old central defender completed a medical at the club's training ground today afternoon and became the second addition to Alan Pardew's squad during the January transfer window.

The France international is expected to make his debut in Newcastle's crucial relegation clash at Aston Villa on Tuesday. He may yet be a replacement for Fabricio Coloccini, who has expressed his desire to leave the club. More talks are planned about the Argentinian's future later this week.

The deal to sign Yanga-Mbiwa, who drew interest from Arsenal, has taken Newcastle's spending this month to almost £12 million after the earlier acquisition of Mathieu Debuchy from Lille.

They were also on the brink of completing the signing of the French left back Massadio Haidera from Nancy for a fee of around £2 million. The 20-year-old is expected to complete his move to Newcastle today.

There was also movement in the club's desire to strengthen their forward line with the likely arrival of Yoan Gouffran from Bordeaux after further talks between Newcastle and his club. The 26-year-old has six months left on his current contract.

Representatives from Newcastle are also expected to meet with Moussa Sissoko deal. The player was withdrawn from Toulouse's Ligue One game this evening. The 22-year-old midfielder is expected to agree a pre-contract agreement with his deal at Toulouse also set to end in the summer.

Pardew today vowed to win over the supporters who jeered his substitutions in Newcastle's defeat to Reading on Saturday.

"None of it will deter me," he said. "If anything all of this makes me more determined to succeed with Newcastle. I will take the criticism from the fans. That is part of the job at Newcastle, I have to accept it and I'm certainly not going to ignore it. Once we get our best players on the pitch and fully fit again, and sign new players, I am confident we can get out of it."