NEWCASTLE UNITED pulled off an 11th hour transfer double on deadline day last night, as Nolberto Solano finalised his own move to West Ham for an undisclosed fee.

The Peruvian's second spell at St James' Park ended when it emerged that Habib Beye's wish of making a £2m switch from Marseille to St James' Park was completed.

Beye and Bolton midfielder Abdoulaye Faye became the latest recruits to Sam Allardyce's squad with just minutes to spare before the closure of the transfer deadline. Both signed three-year contracts.

Solano has been angling for a move away from Tyneside for the last couple of months. He has been keen to move south nearer to his family who live in the capital.

He had looked like joining West Ham a few weeks ago, only for the Hammers to cool on the move after agreeing to pay huge money for Magpies team-mate Kieron Dyer.

But following the news that Dyer broke his leg in two places in the midweek Carling Cup win at Bristol Rovers, West Ham boss Alan Curbishley made a second move for Solano this week.

And, after the 32-year-old completed the switch last night, he brought to an end a two-year stay that started when Graeme Souness brought him back to the club by paying £1.5m to Aston Villa for his services.

By the time his 52 Premier League starts since that August deadline day in 2005 are combined with those he made in his six-year stay between 1998-2004 he ended up with 210 top-flight starts for the club.

His last appearance for Newcastle was in the 2-0 win over Barnsley on Wednesday night in the Carling Cup, when he soon learned that West Ham had returned to make a new offer for him.

Allardyce had decided to sell Solano after it emerged he was going to add both Beye and Faye to his ranks, although he almost missed out on both.

The Faye transfer has been drawn out and it seems as if Bolton were deliberately trying to frustrate Allardyce, who has had a couple of disagreements with his former chairman Phil Gartside since leaving in April.

The Senegalese midfielder had already passed a medical and agreed terms, but confirmation of the deal going through was delayed right up to deadline last night.

Much of the same could be said of the Beye transfer. Marseille, had already confirmed on their official website that their right back had completed a move to Tyneside.

But there was still some late night negotiating in the North-East, which meant Solano had to sit tight before putting pen to paper with West Ham. This despite passing a medical.

Earlier in the night Allardyce gave an indication into his belief that the three transfers would be concluded in time by selling young defender Paul Huntington to Leeds for an undisclosed fee.

Carlisle-born Huntington, 20, played 11 times for Newcastle and he was followed out of the St James' Park door by Albert Luque.

The Spaniard, a £9.5m signing from Deportivo La Coruna two years ago, turned down Real Betis to move to the Dutch giants on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Sunderland's activity on deadline day was non-existent. They had been expected to try to recruit a new midfielder given the injuries to Carlos Edwards and Dean Whitehead but that failed to materialise.

Having failed earlier in the week to strike a deal with Tottenham's Danny Murphy - because of wage demands - Black Cats manager Roy Keane found there was a lack of alternatives. The only piece of business Keane came close to was the acquisition of Celtic's versatile defender Bobo Balde, but the defender was reluctant to move.