The Coloccini Conspiracy: Has he already left Newcastle United for good?

The defender has been allowed to go back to Argentina by Newcastle United as he recovers from a back injury, but given his recent off the field problems, has he left the club for good?

Whilst most of the positives around Newcastle United's January transfer business related to bringing in new players, there was also a considerable amount of joy amongst the club's fans that they managed to keep hold of their influential centre back Fabricio Coloccini as well.

Coloccini had been publicly hankering after a return to Argentina, with San Lorenzo reportedly his preferred destination. However Coloccini was eventually convinced to stay until the summer, with Newcastle unwilling to lose their best defender in the midst of a fight for Premier League survival.

However a few weeks after the end of the transfer window, Coloccini injured his back in completing an acrobatic clearance against Southampton.

At first the injury did not seem too serious, but then it was announced he had broken two bones in his back and would return to Argentina to recuperate.

Since then his rehabilitation period has been difficult to predict, with estimates varying from two weeks to two months.

Whilst the loss of Coloccini in January would have seemed a disaster, Newcastle have been able to introduce Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa to play alongside Steven Taylor in his place, and the fact that they have been able to replace Coloccini will lend itself to conspiracy theories that the club have agreed to let him stay in Argentina ahead of a summer departure.

This has been dismissed as wild speculation by the club, and Jonas Gutierrez has come out to say that Newcastle fans would see Coloccini play for them again this year, but whilst he is in Argentina, the rumours will not go away.

Coloccini will likely leave St James' Park this summer, and in Yanga-Mbiwa Newcastle have a fine replacement in their squad already, but it would be sad if the Argentine really had already played his last match for Newcastle.

Will Newcastle see Coloccini in a black and white shirt again?

Nick Harris

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I'm Nick Harris, Spurs fan and sports writer. Alongside HITC, I'm the founder, editor, writer, and fan of footballspirals.com and can be found on Twitter - @nicksharris. When I'm not watching sport I'm usually drinking coffee and checking updates on my phone in an antisocial manner.