Colo confirms he wants to leave in January

Saw this article just now and I can see this move happening.


http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...in-coloccini-asks-to-return-home-8447038.html


Newcastle United have been rocked by the request of their captain, Fabricio Coloccini, to leave the club during the January transfer window. The 30-year-old told club officials today that he wanted to return home to Argentina.

His representatives flew to Tyneside for a meeting to tell the club that the player no longer felt he could stay and wished to leave before the end of the month. That is a massive blow to manager Alan Pardew's attempts to steer Newcastle away from the Premier League relegation zone. The club have won twice in their last 16 games and head to Norwich tomorrow without a league victory away from St James' Park this season.

Coloccini is currently the best paid player at St James' Park, on a salary of around £3m per year. He has become a hugely dependable and popular performer at the club and his display in the Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland earlier in the season brought comparisons to Bobby Moore from Pardew.

However, Coloccini's form has dipped recently and his father, Osvaldo, has expressed a wish for his son to be allowed to return home for what his agent called "personal matters". Newcastle must now decide whether to allow the £10m signing from Deportivo La Coruña in 2008 to leave during the transfer window. That may depend on whether they can find a replacement before the end of the month.

Coloccini signed a new four-year deal last year to stay at the club but the desire from the Argentina international now is to return home, possibly to join San Lorenzo, for whom he played for during the 2000-01 season and where his father is now employed. Osvaldo has admitted his son is eager to move back to the club for whom he played on loan from Milan for a season. Newcastle may have to consider the possibility of loaning the central defender to San Lorenzo, with the Argentinian side unlikely to be able to pay a major fee for a player who made the Premier League team of the year last season.

Pardew had provisionally included Coloccini in his squad for Newcastle's game at Carrow Road. But San Lorenzo's president, Matias Lammens, appears hopeful of securing a swift solution, having admitted today they are interested in signing him.

"Coloccini to San Lorenzo is the plan A, B and C," Lammens said. "He represents much more than football – he played here six months and was champion, his father works at the club and is a fan. The deadline is next week but we cannot do anything crazy with the budget."

After starting his professional career at Boca Juniors, Coloccini left the Buenos Aires giants for Milan in 1999. Although he remained on the books of the Italian club for five years, he spent almost the entire time out on loan in Argentina and Spain. Coloccini joined Newcastle in 2008 for £10.3m, with Pardew making him captain at the start of last season. But he has spoken of the difficulty his wife and family had in settling in England when he arrived four and a half years ago.

He said: "I came [to England] with my wife and my children. It was difficult for me but more difficult for my wife. She was at home, she didn't have friends. She is one of the people who made a lot of things for me and sometimes I think, when I play well or I give 100 per cent on the pitch, it is because I am well at home."

Captain Coloccini: Career factfile

Born 22 January, 1982, Cordoba

Club career

1998-99 Boca Juniors

1999-2004 Milan

2000-04 Loan spells at San Lorenzo, Alaves, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal

2004-08 Deportivo La Coruña

2008- Newcastle United n International career

International career

35 caps for Argentina, one goal

Honours

3x Argentina's Primera Division (1998, 1999, 2001)

1x Olympic gold (2004)

1x Championship (2010)

 

Explains why his form has dipped.

 

Shiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt!!

Really hope it is bull but the Indy is normally spot on...

 

yikes

 

Very bad news indeed. Would love to see him stay and end his playing days with us.

 

This has been gathering pace for a while.

 

If true, we will need 2-3 cb's.

Probably Douglas, Tomkin and a backup French lad.

 

Sakho?

 

If he wants to leave for family reasons then he leaves with my blessing...I know what it's like to be away for weeks on end...Thanks for everything Colo,especially sticking with us and getting us back up to the top flight.

 

If he goes it'd be a huge salary off the wage bill.

It just shows how much things can change around, 12 months ago we had a squad which was going places....it appears that a lot of them ARE going to different places.

 

Could it be something to do with the row him and Pards had?

 

Spectacularly bad timing would be an understatement of epic proportions... I respect him for being very professional during his time here, but I hope his personal dilemma is solved and he remains at the club, because as sloppy as he has been at times this year, he's still a few cuts above most of our defending talent. If it can only be solved through leaving at this time, it must be a pretty big issue. My fear is that "row" with Pardew might be behind it.

Another fear would obviously be having Willo as our only viable senior centre-back and the panic buying that would necessitate!

 

Damn it ACS! Thunder well and truly stolen

I slipped it in there all calm and casual like as if nothing had happened, but now I just look like a (bigger) berk...

 

Got a bad feeling about this. The Independent usually don't run with stories that have no substance.

It may stem from Pardew's recent tactless statement that Colo isn't the same player as last season. Imagine a class act like Colo having to try to do his own job on the pitch while also having to have to look to cover for the inevitable Willo cockup. Result? Unhappy Colo, which is why AP was out putting his arm around him, after the QPR match.

If Colo was to leave, in this transfer window, I would fear for our survival, this season. He is our leader, both on and off the pitch, and I don't see any other natural leaders in our squad. Saylor might have been a candidate, if he wasn't always injured.

 

No mate, it means we are both ITK.

 

This shouldn't be a surprise though...I first heard this "rumour" at the beginning of December

 

At this rate we could have a whole new back 4 in a couple of weeks if Santon does one too.

 

I'd rather see Pards go than Colo.

At least I'd still be able to wear my new top then.

 

This has never happened to me before!

Nothing to see here people, just the "In the know" clique... Nothing to see, everything to aspire to...

 

Hope we sign Bong...I'd love to get his name on the back of my shirt.