Jonas Gutierrez 'had been told he could leave Newcastle'
Thursday 24 March 2016 15:31, UK
Jonas Gutierrez was told months before his cancer diagnosis he would not be a regular at Newcastle and should look for a new club, former manager Alan Pardew has told a tribunal.
Pardew told an employment panel hearing Gutierrez's claim for disability discrimination that he wanted to "help" the player to transfer to a new club in the summer of 2013.
At the time, Pardew said he spoke to the 32-year-old, telling the tribunal: "My conversation was a diplomatic conversation, 'are you looking to move on, is there a club for you, because I don't see you featuring many times this season'."
He said the conversation was "instigated" by Gutierrez's concerns about his place in the side, despite him being a near-constant starter in the first team.
Gutierrez, currently playing for Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna, spent seven seasons with Newcastle after joining the club in 2008 and underwent an operation to remove a tumour in his left testicle in October 2013.
For me, the better decision would have been to move him that summer and I think we did everything - but that option didn't come.
Pardew, who now manages Crystal Palace, said: "For me, the better decision would have been to move him that summer and I think we did everything - but that option didn't come."
On several occasions, the former Newcastle head coach said he could not see a place for Gutierrez in his future plans for the squad despite making 71 out of 76 starts in the two seasons to 2013.
He said: "I was very keen to have my own players and most managers in their period like to think they can create a team. I viewed this as a long-term project."
He added: "The way Jonas played didn't really fit into the mould I wanted to make. Not that he wasn't a good player, but sometimes players don't always fit the mould."
Gutierrez, described as a "powerful" dressing room presence by Pardew, has claimed he was "frozen out" of the first team by the club's hierarchy - which, Gutierrez believes, viewed him as a liability after diagnosis with testicular cancer.
In his evidence to an employment tribunal, the 32-year-old star also accused Newcastle of ensuring he did not make enough appearances to trigger a one-year contract extension.
Gutierrez has alleged that the summer 2013 conversation between him and Pardew never took place, and that the first such chat was in December that year.
But his former manager said on Thursday: "No, he's not right."
He added: "I did instruct him in the summer of that campaign that he wasn't going to feature in my team."
