Newcastle United and West Ham have initiated an attempted ‘airlift’ of Premier League players from Equatorial Guinea. With Senegal now out of the Africa Cup of Nations, Newcastle are keen to have Papiss Cissé back in time to play at Hull City on Saturday and West Ham United would like Cheikhou Kouyaté back for the trip to Liverpool the same day.

The two clubs are sharing the cost of chartering a private plane to fly the pair home from Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea – the going rate is around £65,000 – with the only problem now being ensuring their players board it.

“We have got together and we’re trying to put a plane on to bring them back,” said John Carver, Newcastle’s interim head coach who is seeking his first win since succeeding Alan Pardew in a caretaker capacity.

“The Senegal FA haven’t been too helpful and we’re not happy about that,” he added. “But hopefully Papiss will be back on Friday, meet us at the hotel on Friday night and be involved at Hull on Saturday. Papiss is our top scorer and the only way you’re going to win matches is by having your top scorer around.”

Cissé, however, is proving slightly elusive at present. “We’ve been trying to get in touch with him and it hasn’t been easy,” said Carver. “But I’ve spoken to his agent and left a message with Papiss. Lee Charnley [Newcastle’s managing director] has spoken to the Senegalese FA but they haven’t been very helpful.”

Sam Allardyce is not surprised. “We’ve had to take responsibility and sort it out,” said the West Ham manager.

“We’ve got together with the other clubs and stumped up for a private jet for the players to all come back together. The chairmen have been good enough to stump up and split the costs to make sure we get them back for this weekend.

“I think Senegal are not quite as organised as we are. There’s a lack of organisation, a lack of booking people’s flights to come back. I’ve experienced it many times before but when it’s right in the middle of the season you want your players back as quickly as you can. We’ve taken the right route.”

Considering that Africa Cup of Nations regulations state that players will be returned to their clubs within 48 hours of their elimination, Senegal’s disorganisation is a source of annoyance for Allardyce. “It lies with the association of that particular country to sort it out,” he said. “It’s not just that, though. Players will try to sneak a couple of days. That’s what they normally do. I learnt that at Bolton.”

It seems Southampton and Stoke City have had a happier experience transporting their Senegal internationals, Sadio Mané and Mame Biram Diouf respectively, from Equatorial Guinea. Stoke say Diouf is en route independently and Southampton say they felt no need to become involved in hiring the plane.

Carver meanwhile is happy to work purely as a head coach with no input in transfer business. “I don’t think anyone is going to come in this window,” he said. “But I’m not interested in who is coming or who is going out. My role is to get the team right, pick the team and get results, not to get involved in anything outside of that. I don’t have a problem with that. I’m comfortable with it.

“You will not hear me making an excuse saying‚ ‘They haven’t got me the right players’. You won’t hear me say that, I will never, ever say that. You have to got to believe in your own ability. You have got to trust people to bring the right people in, for me to work with, to get the right results.”