Matthias Jaissle’s St James’ Park bow ended in defeat as German side Bayer Leverkusen overcame Newcastle United 2-1 in a pre-season friendly.Inside 45 seconds, Newcastle fell behind after Ibrahim Maza’s vicious left-footed shot from distance dipped into the net beyond Lukas Hornicek. Once the home side had changed their shirts due to a kit clash, Malick Thiaw, who was named captain once more, equalised when he nodded in an Anthony Elanga corner just before the interval.Victor Boniface rose off the bench to curl in Leverkusen’s winner in the 82nd minute, bamboozling Sean Steur before whipping a shot into the far corner, which Hornicek got a hand to but could not keep out.French outfit Strasbourg visit Tyneside on Sunday for the second friendly of the weekend and Jaissle’s team selection suggested that he had decided to split his side across the two matches, rather than field his strongest XI on either day.Following back-to-back defeats against Everton and Leverkusen and with the opener against Liverpool just eight days away, Jaissle’s Newcastle are not going into the Premier League campaign with much positive momentum.Chris Waugh analyses the action from St James’ Park.Dedic deal close — and he’s desperately neededSo short are Newcastle at full-back that Jaissle will be unable to name two fit senior out-and-out wide defenders across both these weekend friendlies, never mind four.Lewis Hall will be one of the first names on the teamsheet for the Premier League opener but, even if Mason Miley is highly rated within Newcastle and signed a senior contract this summer, the 17-year-old younger brother of Lewis has never made a first-team appearance and should not be expected to deputise against Liverpool. Leo Shahar, the 19-year-old who will likely play against Strasbourg tomorrow (Sunday), has made just one senior competitive appearance.Newcastle are close to agreeing a deal with Benfica for Dedic, however, and the 23-year-old may well be thrust straight into the XI for next Sunday, given Tino Livramento is only just returning to full training following a minor calf operation in June.Jaissle worked with the Bosnia-Herzegovina international at FC Liefering and Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, so their respective familiarity meant this move made sense from pretty much the moment the German was appointed and Dedic should be a stylistic fit.Amar Dedic is close to a move to Tyneside from Benfica (WM Sport Media/Getty Images)Dedic is predominantly a right-back but can play down both flanks, which has proven attractive to Newcastle given their lack of full-back options.Dedic looks set to become Newcastle’s sixth summer signing but the first of Jaissle’s tenure and his arrival cannot come a moment too soon, even if the proposed fee of up to £30million ($40.6m) appears expensive. As exciting as it was to see brothers Lewis and Mason Miley play on the St James’ pitch together, the former needs a sustained run in his natural midfield role and too much should not be expected of the latter too soon. Mason went off in the closing stages with what appeared to be a knock.