Alan Pardew admits Newcastle need players like Fabricio Coloccini if they are to escape relegation.
Magpies captain Coloccini put in an assured display to shut Norwich out at Carrow Road on Saturday even though it emerged 24 hours earlier that he had asked to leave the club for personal reasons.
"He's a class player," Pardew said. "Great players can play through crises. We had a crisis in terms of our results. It is players of his calibre and Tim Krul and (Yohan) Cabaye that are going to get us up the league, which we need to do."
Coloccini will hold talks with the Newcastle hierarchy in the coming days as he attempts to finalise a move to Argentinian club San Lorenzo, although there are plenty of obstacles to suggest that his departure may not be straightforward.
San Lorenzo want the situation resolved in the coming week, but they admit they cannot afford to shell out a big transfer fee for the 30-year-old, who is so well regarded in the English game that he was named in the Professional Footballers' Association team of the year last term.
The sensitive nature of Coloccini's position was evident through the fact that Newcastle attempted to block questions about the Argentina defender throughout Pardew's post-match press briefing.
"We've got a meeting this week and we're going to try and resolve it" was the only other comment Pardew made on the matter.
Source: PA
