Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has insisted that he is in the dark over claims that Fabricio Coloccini wants to leave the club "as soon as possible".

The 31-year-old was quoted as saying that he wanted to depart the Magpies for San Lorenzo in a bid to return to his homeland of Argentina.

"I don't know much about it," the Shields Gazette quotes Pardew as saying. "I haven't spoken to him.

"I wasn't aware of that, if I'm honest. But it's difficult when players go home and they are interviewed. You never know if there's any truth in it."

Coloccini's current contract runs until 2016.