Fabricio Coloccini allayed rumours that he had walked out on Newcastle United by training with Alan Pardew's increasingly Francophone squad on Thursday but the club's captain remains desperate to return to Argentina this month.
Newcastle, where half the squad now have French as their first language after a glut of new signings from Ligue 1, retain some sympathy for the personal difficulties in Coloccini's life which have precipitated this desire to depart but they are prepared to play hardball with the Argentina international. Club lawyers have reminded him that they hold his registration and that, after signing a four-year, £60,000-a-week contract last March, he cannot be allowed to leave for nothing.
The 31-year-old centre-half has four options. He can find a club to purchase him for Newcastle's £7m asking price; buy out the remaining three years on his contract; go awol in the hope the St James' Park lawyers eventually back down, compromise and relinquish his registration or, most drastically, retire from football for good.
Coloccini's dream of re-joining San Lorenzo, one of his former clubs and the team his father works for, was never realistic as they could not afford to pay a transfer fee for his services. This idea is now acknowledged as impossible but he still has his heart set on relocating to South America in the next few days.
Pardew will continue to try to persuade him that the best solution for all parties is for Coloccini to stay until May and help the team avoid relegation. Further talks are planned over the weekend but it remains unclear what Coloccini will decide to do and whether he will be in the right frame of mind to play at Aston Villa in a vital Premier League game on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile Pardew's French revolution continues apace. After strengthening his defence by recruiting Lille's Mathieu Debuchy and Mapou Yanga Mbiwa from Montpellier for a combined £13m, Newcastle's manager has now completed the signing of Yoan Gouffran, the Bordeaux forward who is seen as a replacement for Demba Ba. Midfield will shortly be augmented by the arrival of Moussa Sissoko from Toulouse, after the French club on Thursday announced that the 22-year-old was Tyneside bound, and the 20-year-old Nancy left-back Massadio Haïdara has also finalised his switch.
Florian Thauvin, Bastia's 19-year-old attacking midfielder is another player on Newcastle's shopping list and is likely to arrive at either St James' Park or Arsenal for around £4m before the end of next week.
Already Pardew, who, could well have invested £20m on cross-Channel imports by the end of the month, can field an entire outfield comprising French-speaking players. The former Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier and the former Sunderland, Tottenham and Fulham midfielder Steed Malbranque are among those who have suggested that Newcastle's policy might make it difficult for their manager to maintain a happy, balanced and united dressing room.
Having completed his £1.4m switch from Bordeaux, Gouffran does not share those concerns – or any relegation worries. Although Newcastle are only two points above the relegation zone the 26-year-old suggested he can form a potent attacking partnership with Papiss Cissé. "I am not worried at all," he said. "I know the players who play here at Newcastle already. They are fantastic. Newcastle isn't in the position it should be in the league."
Asked what qualities he will bring to the club, Gouffran said: "Speed. I am fast and I score goals. I had a chat with Papiss Cisse this morning for the first time. We get on really well. He's a great guy and I have no worries that we can definitely play together well."
Although Pardew is keen to offload his ill-disciplined striker Nile Ranger before the window closes next Thursday, he may yet buy one British player. Jack Butland, the Birmingham City and England goalkeeper, remains a target and a £4m deal could result in Butland being loaned back to Lee Clark's team for the rest of the season.
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