Daryl Murphy says moving to Newcastle was a ‘no-brainer’ after completing a £3m switch from Ipswich Town.

The 33-year-old Republic of Ireland international striker was in his seventh season with the Blues, when you take into account his original three loan spells, and had netted 67 goals to put him in the top 10 of the club’s all-time league scorers.

He insisted recently that rumours of a switch to the Magpies, recently relegated to the Championship, was purely ‘paper talk’ and that he was settled and happy in Suffolk.

Murphy, who was in the final year of his deal, handed in a transfer request last week though and manager Mick McCarthy didn’t stand in his way.

“I’m absolutely delighted to get it over the line and really looking forward to it,” said former Sunderland striker Murphy, who will be 35 by the time his two-year deal at St James’ Park comes to and end.

“When I knew the club was interested, it was a no-brainer for me so I’m happy it’s all done.

“I think with the squad of players that the club have now, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.”

Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez added: “Daryl has experience and has proven that he can score goals in the Championship.

“He gives us another option in attack and we could see from this weekend’s game against Brighton that we needed more bodies up front.

“Daryl has a good attitude and he can be very important for us this season.”

Murphy was the Championship’s 27-goal top-scorer when Town made the play-offs in 2014/15 and the club turned down an offer in the region of £5m for him from Middlesbrough last summer. A series of injury niggles meant he wasn’t ever able to start more than three games in a row after Christmas last season and he had to settle for 10 goals.

McCarthy is now set to be busy in the transfer market before the window shuts at 11pm on Wednesday night.