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Newcastle United have finally off-loaded Emmanuel Riviere and cleared £180,000 per month of the club’s wage bill.

The Toon flop - highly recommended by former chief scout Graham Carr - netted just one Premier League goal and two strikes in the League Cup during his time at Newcastle and has signed a two-year deal with French Ligue 1 outfit Metz.

Riviere cost United £7million from Monaco three years ago, but never really settled on Tyneside and was loaned to Spanish side Osasuna last term.

Now United will hope that the exit of the 27-year-old will help pave the way for some incoming business, with the club waiting for the green light from Chelsea boss Antonio Conte to sign Brazilian midfielder Kenedy.

United are expecting to sell Siem De Jong to Ajax over the weekend, while Yasin Ben El-Mhanni could also be sold with just one year left on his contract.

Ben El-Mhanni has been linked with Leicester City in the last couple of days and Newcastle won’t stand in his way if he wants to go.

Newcastle have also had two loan bids from Hellas Verona and Cagliari for Aleksandar Mitrovic in the last couple of days, but both were swiftly rejected.