Newcastle United have wasted little time in their attempts to replace Demba Ba, having opened transfer talks with Loïc Rémy after meeting Marseilles’ £9.75 million valuation of the France forward.

Ba’s £7.5 million move to Chelsea has yet to be rubber-stamped, but Alan Pardew, the Newcastle manager, is planning for life without the Senegal forward, who has scored 13 goals in the Barclays Premier League this season.

A £5 million deal with Lille to bring in Mathieu Debuchy, the France right back, is expected to go through in the next 24 hours as Pardew seeks to bolster a squad undermined by injuries and a failure to strengthen sufficiently during the summer.

Newcastle face competition from Tottenham Hotspur for Rémy, the former Lyons and Nice forward.