PAPISS CISSE’S Newcastle United future has been thrown into doubt after the Senegalese striker admitted he did not know whether he would still be at the club when the transfer window closes tomorrow.

The 30-year-old was the subject of fresh links with Turkish club Galatasaray at the weekend, added to long-standing interest from clubs in Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates.

And Cisse, who started Newcastle’s first two games of the season but was left out of the 0-0 draw at Manchester United, has become frustrated with a lack of opportunities on Tyneside and is ready to cut his ties with the club.

“I always want to play. I’m always ready to play,” said Cisse, a second-half substitute in Newcastle’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal. “If the manager gives me the chance to play, I will play. I work very hard on the training pitch every day, but I don’t know if I’ve done something wrong.

“The decision is for the gaffer to make and I accept that, but it’s very hard for me. After the Manchester United game I thought ‘that’s it, that’s football’ and I keep going and work hard and maybe one day I’ll have my chance to come back into the team.

“I just keep working. I don’t know, maybe one day here, or away, I will have my chance to play football again.

When asked whether he would still be a Newcastle player when the transfer window closes at 6pm tomorrow, Cisse replied: “I don’t know. Seriously, I don’t know.”

Cisse’s agent, Madou Diene, believes there is significant interest in the former Freiburg striker, and has told his client: “If the right offer comes I will ask Papiss to consider it.

“Nobody wants to be at a club where you don’t feel wanted.”

While Cisse is displeased with his lack of action, the forward, who has netted 42 goals in his Magpies career, will at least get a run in the team if he is to stay on Tyneside. Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has started in Cisse’s place, will serve a three-match ban for his straight red card against the Gunners.

Cisse, who did not see the incident that led to Mitrovic’s dismissal, felt the ten remaining men coped well with the Gunners’ numerical advantage.

He said: “It’s bad enough when you play against Arsenal and then you take an early red card like that, it wasn’t easy for the players and it wasn’t easy for the manager, too. The game was lost, but it was better to lose by one than by three or four.

“ I didn’t see the tackle. I was just speaking to Cheicky [Cheick Tiote]. And then I saw the red card and I was like ‘okay’. At that point, I knew the game would be very hard for the team; that the team would need to be strong and do their job.”

Cisse admitted that Mitrovic’s red card made it hard for the other players to deal with, but refused to criticise the Serbian international, who was a £13m summer signing for Newcastle.

“I don’t want to say anything about him,” said Cisse. “For him to do something like that was hard for the team. If you’re a striker and you take a red card in that part of the pitch … Sometimes things happen that are bad for the team, but that’s football. The yellow cards and the red card made it very hard for us. Next time maybe they’ll learn to do better.

“It’s football. The players just do their jobs and they work hard to make tackles. You can’t make stupid fouls, but for me the red card is very hard to take. It’s 15 minutes, so take a yellow.

“I don’t say anything bad about the team. It’s football. The players work for the team. Maybe they will go to their national teams and come back and go again.”