44-goal ex-Newcastle United man makes shock return to football after St James’ Park visit and ‘retirement’

Former Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse has signed for AL Qabila in the United Arab Emirates. Cisse had been without a club for two years following a spell at Amiens SC in France and spent time training with non-league side Macclesfield, a club based near where Cisse resides in England.

However, the Senegalese international is back in football, aged 39, and will reunite with former Magpies teammate Steven Taylor in the UAE. Taylor, who is less than five months older than his newest signing, joined Al Qabila almost exactly twelve months ago ahead of their first-ever season.

Taylor was announced as manager in a dramatic social media video after spending two years as manager of Gulf United - a club where he enjoyed tremendous success after guiding them to back-to-back promotions. In their debut campaign in the third-tier of UAE football, Al Qabila currently sit in fourth place, but are some 20 points from securing an unlikely promotion in their maiden season.

Cisse, meanwhile, will look to add firepower to his new side, but will have some rustiness to shake-off having spent two years as a free agent. Cisse, who netted 44-goals during his time on Tyneside and returned to St James’ Park alongside Jonas Gutierrez before being presented to the crowd in May last year, had signed up to the Player Agency, a group that specialise in helping high-profile players continue their footballing career, to help get him back on the pitch.

Cisse’s post-Newcastle United career path

Cisse spent four-and-a-half years as a Newcastle United player after joining the club in January 2012. His start to life on Tyneside was delayed slightly as he, alongside his new teammate Demba Ba, represented Senegal at that year’s African Cup of Nations.

However, when Cisse eventually arrived to Tyneside, he made up for lost time with a simply staggering run of form in goal, scoring 13 goals in his first 14 Premier League matches to help Alan Pardew’s side qualify for European football. Cisse would continue to play a big role in the starting XI, grabbing a number of important and often late goals before being sold in 2016 as the club prepared for life in the Championship under Rafa Benitez.

Cisse would become another high-profile player to switch England for China in that summer. Cisse netted better than a goal every other game whilst in China before returning to Europe with Turkish side Alanyaspor.

42 goals in just 65 games in all competitions for Alanyaspor would earn him a move to Fenerbahce ahead of the 2020/21 campaign, although he would spend just one season at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium before joining Rizespor - a club that Jonjo Shelvey would also spend time at in the coming years. Cisse’s time in Turkiye would come to an end in 2022 as he moved to Amiens SC in France’s second-tier.

Again, Cisse would just miss out on crossing paths with a former Magpie in France, albeit this time one he never played with at St James’ Park, when Andy Carroll was signed by the French club to replace the departing and future Al Qabila man.

Your next Newcastle United read: This is the moment Newcastle United changed forever