Football: Asprilla's new tune hits the wrong note with Toon Army

The two things the supporters of Newcastle United Football Club least expected to have to contemplate this season were relegation and the departure of Faustino Asprilla.

The drop can still be avoided, but the exit of a Tyneside favourite looks to be a formality. Nick Duxbury reports.

The shocks came thick and fast yesterday at Newcastle. The club confirmed that the player second only to Alan Shearer in the affections of the Toon Army had indeed asked to leave and moreover they had given him permission to talk to Parma about a move back to the Italian club.

Faustino Asprilla, 29-year-old Colombian international, who joined Newcastle from Parma in February 1996 for pounds 7.5m, went about training as usual, but the heart the fans thought beat only for Tyneside now longs for Italy.

And there was more to come with the Newcastle manager, Kenny Dalglish, admitting that had he known of Asprilla's intentions he would never have sold Les Ferdinand to Tottenham for pounds 6m. With Shearer injured, Ferdinand gone and Asprilla about to leave, Dalglish is left with a pop-gun attack with which to secure Premiership safety.

Dalglish was disappointed at Asprilla's decision, but realised that if the Colombian wanted to go there was not much the club could do about it. The manager also claimed that Asprilla had told him at the start of the season that he would be happy to stay until the summer.

Although the United boss tried to persuade the South American to change his mind, it now seems certain the way is left open for the striker, whose skills delighted the St James' Park crowd, to return to Serie A with Parma.

"We believed Tino was perfectly happy at the start of the season. If not we would not have sold Les Ferdinand to Tottenham," said Dalglish, who will hope to recoup the bulk of the pounds 7.5m that his predecessor, Kevin Keegan, paid for the entertaining Asprilla.

"When his [Asprilla's] agent spoke to us just before Christmas and said his player was unhappy we dismissed this. In fact, we ignored Parma's approaches twice. But, if he wants to leave, it is in our interests as well as his to allow him to go.

"The club have spoken to Parma and Tino will be talking to them but most of the stuff is done on the deal - certainly between Parma and Tino - and it should go through very quickly."

Dalglish admitted that Asprilla had been popular in the dressing-room with his team-mates as well as with the fans.

"He was very popular with the rest of the lads and instead of remembering recent days I would like to remember him for his performance against Barcelona," he said, referring to Asprilla's stunning Champions' League hat-trick against the Spanish giants in mid-September.

"It's a bit of a disappointment that we've had to make a decision at this moment in time and that disappointment I am sure will be shared with our supporters," he added.

Asprilla was at Newcastle's Chester-le-Street training ground yesterday, although he did not train with the rest of the squad as they prepared for the Bolton game.

The Colombian has been struggling for form and fitness since recovering from a groin operation which kept him out for three months and is currently out of the side with a thigh injury.

Asprilla's imminent departure is sure to put Dalglish under increasing pressure to make a major signing. Yesterday's signing of the 24-year-old former West Ham and Metz centre-back, David Terrier, did not quite fit the bill.

Keegan, now running the show at Third Division Fulham, was amazed to hear that Asprilla could be leaving.

"I fetched him and a lot of people blamed him for losing us the championship, which was totally unfair," Keegan said. "People questioned why he came. He was bought for the Newcastle fans not for anyone else and they will be very sad to see him go.

"They will miss him, but if Kenny thinks that is right then as long as he spends the money on another player of equal standing, who maybe can bring Newcastle more success than they are enjoying at the moment, I think the fans will put up with it."