Pardew to hold talks with Coloccini

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew plans to meet with captain Fabricio Coloccini in a bid to keep him at St James’ Park.

The centre-back is keen to move back to Argentina for personal reasons, with San Lorenzo his preferred destination due to his father’s affiliation with the club.

However, with Coloccini a key member of the Newcastle squad and concerns over the depth of his defence already, Pardew is determined on keeping the 30-year-old and hopes he will find sanctuary ‘on the football pitch’.

“We’re going to sit down next week and hopefully iron out the issues and come to a conclusion where Colo stays,” Pardew told reporters.

“There’s obviously a problem there in his life.

“The best way to deal with it at times is be on the football pitch and play your best football, and he certainly did that last week (against Norwich).”

Coloccini, who joined the Tyneside club for a fee of 10 million pounds in 2008, penned a new four-year contract last May.

San Lorenzo chairman Matias Lammens is sympathetic with the Premier League outfit’s predicament – hinting that their chase of the player’s signature will conclude in the near future.

“Putting myself in Newcastle’s place, it will be difficult to let Fabricio Coloccini leave,” he said to TyC Sports.

“San Lorenzo will wait for him until the end of this week.”