New signing Gutierrez has been playing in pre-season with Real Mallorca's permission.

However, his old club are unhappy about the manner of the 25-year-old's exit from the ONO Estadi – with Gutierrez understood to have invoked Fifa's Article 17 to buy his way out of his contract – and they have still not released his registration.

The Football Association and their counterparts in Spain have been drawn into the row, and Fifa will have to rule on the dispute.

And the odds are seemingly against Gutierrez – who says there will be a huge TV audience for the fixture in his native Argentina, with countryman Carlos Tevez involved for Manchester United – making his competitive debut for Newcastle in the season-opener.

"Of course I hope to play," Gutierrez said. "When I was a child I dreamed about playing in games like this.

"It's so important – it's a very big game at a very big club.

"Newcastle are going into trying to do good things and get something out of the game.

"The world will be watching this game.

"In Argentina, you can watch all of the Premier League games and my family will watching this one.

"This is one of the biggest games in the world, and they won't want to miss this."

Gutierrez has been in contact with his international colleague Tevez ahead of the fixture.

"He added: "I have spoken to Carlos about the game, and it would be good to play against him.

"They have a lot of quality players. It isn't just Carlos, they have players like Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick playing.

"There are so many more important players playing in the game."

United, meanwhile, are still waiting for the paperwork to be completed on defender Fabricio Coloccini's move to St James's