Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew is hopeful of convincing Fabricio Coloccini to remain at St James’ Park when he meets with his captain next week.
The centre-back is keen on a move back to Argentina due to 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 in 2008, penned a new four-year contract last May and 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.”