Departing Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse has paid tribute to Toon fans as he joins Shandong Luneng.

Cisse, 31, is the latest big-name player to move to China after agreeing a two-and-a-half year contract with the option of another year.

Senegal international Cisse, who scored 44 goals in 131 games for Newcastle, said: “I will be back as a supporter alongside them one day. Every goal I scored in that famous number nine shirt was for them."

Newcastle sold Cisse following relegation to the Championship and the striker believes Rafa Benitez can help them get back into the Premier League.

He added: "I hope that the team are quickly back in the Premier League. We had some great times together and hopefully under Rafa those times will return."