Fabricio Coloccini signs new contract at Newcastle United FC

There has been tentative speculation Sissoko could depart in the summer, as he has admitted a desire to play in the Champions League, but new head coach Steve McClaren has stressed he wants the 25-year-old to be “the main focus” of the team.

The deal keeps him at the club until the end of the 2016-17 season and Newcastle confirmed he will remain as captain for the upcoming campaign.

But McClaren wants him back fit and is delighted he is staying on for another year. It had gone on too long.

I do agree that Palace might well be the “surprise package” this season, but I’m not sure it’ll be in the way that many of (Alan’s mates in) the media suggest. When he returns to the starting XI a central defender described as a “Rolls-Royce” by Pardew knows he will have to win over a sceptical Tyneside public whose trust he forfeited after some underachieving performances last season.

“I’ll be nervous”, he said. “In terms of Colo I’ve heard that”. “That’s affected Colo in terms of somebody being out there offering him a three-year contract”.

McClaren has come across really well, I think, when he’s been allowed to speak to anyone other than the Mirror, though he’s not really been able to disguise the fact that the defence is a massive worry.

“Once we sat down together to iron things out, I knew straight away his heart was with the Club and the new contract was agreed very quickly”. If you assemble enough average-to-rubbish footballers in a possible back four then I suppose that happens.

Club captain since 2011, Coloccini had just 12 months left on his current deal, but has now committed himself to the Magpies until the age of 35. “It certainly can’t be like last season here”, he said. The messages from the club over the past few weeks have been very clear and a statement of intent, following up from the owner’s words, with three very good seasons and maybe more on the way.

“It’s going to be different, a different style, different football and everybody has got to be able to adapt and cope with that”. “We’re not where we want to be, Nowhere near”.