Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew remains hopeful of convincing Fabricio Coloccini of staying.

Coloccini told the Magpies he wanted to return to his native Argentina for personal reasons, where his former club San Lorenzo have expressed a strong interest in signing him.

However, Newcastle would have to release the defender from the long-term contract he committed to last year as the Argentinian club cannot afford to buy him.

Pardew said: "We're going to sit down next week and hopefully iron out the issues and come to the conclusion that Colo stays and obviously that's what I hope for as a manager."

Despite the off-field distractions, Pardew is still pleased with the way the 30-year-old has been commanding the Newcastle defence, especially with last week's clean sheet against Norwich.

"It's obvious that there is a problem there in his life," Pardew said.

"The best way of dealing with it sometimes is to be on a football pitch and play your best football and he certainly did that last week."