JONAS GUTIERREZ is due to return to Newcastle United within the next month after resuming light training with his former club, Velez Sarsfield, in his native Argentina.

Having spent the last year battling against testicular cancer, Gutierrez was discharged from hospital earlier this week after undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

The winger has received a series of positive medical bulletins, and after taking part in some light training sessions at Velez, where he started his career in 2001, he is due to return to Tyneside before Christmas to be reintegrated into Newcastle’s first-team squad.

“I haven't spoken to him personally yet,” said Magpies manager Alan Pardew. “But we've had three or four messages back and his surgeon says that he thinks he can return to professional training in a month’s time, which is fantastic news.

“He's been given the all clear and we're absolutely delighted. He's a bubbly character and a much loved guy in the dressing room. We're all really pleased.

“Really and truly, from where he's been in terms of that particular illness, just for him to be back on the training ground will be really terrific and we’re not looking beyond that at the moment.”

Gutierrez’s Newcastle contract is due to expire at the end of the season, and given that he was loaned to Norwich City before the full extent of his health problems became clear, it was unlikely that he would have been offered a new deal regardless of developments in the last 12 months.

His relationship with Velez Sarsfield means he could be offered a deal there as a free agent next summer, and recent events are understood to have persuaded him that he should relocate to Argentina permanently once his commitments with Newcastle have expired.

It remains to be seen whether he is considered for first-team duties on Tyneside in the second half of the season, but his popularity as a squad member means that even his presence would have a positive effect on morale.

Last month, Ryan Taylor’s return to action after a two-year absence boosted the mood at Newcastle’s Darsley Park training complex, and Gutierrez’s appearance on the training pitch would be an even more emotional occurrence.

“I think it would give everyone a boost,” said Pardew. “When Ryan, who's champing at the bit for another first-team start, came back, it gave everyone a lift, and I’m sure the same would be true of Jonas.”

Confirmation of Gutierrez’s recovery has come at the end of a hugely positive fortnight for the Magpies, with league victories over Tottenham and Liverpool lifting the club to 12th in the table and a Capital One Cup victory over Manchester City setting up a quarter-final date at White Hart Lane.

The ‘Sack Pardew’ banners have been replaced by flags suggesting the manager has come ‘Back from the dead’, and having seen the humorous side of the supporters’ comments during last weekend’s win over Liverpool, the 53-year-old is delighted that his faith in his squad has eventually been justified.

“I’ve seen the banner quite a few times, it seems to be on a reel,” he said. “It was funny, and that’s what great football banter is like, that camaraderie on the terraces, bringing you up, taking you down, giving you a lift and giving you a knock. That’s part of the business, and I thought it was funny.

“I was always confident (things would improve), but some of the things we've done have surprised me. Some of the young players have been particularly impressive. Mehdi's (Abeid) two performances at Man City and against Liverpool for example, you couldn’t second guess them.

“You see the potential on the training ground – and I keep mentioning Adam Armstrong, the guy who hasn't really featured yet – but while you can have a good idea, I've been in the game long enough to know that you never quite know it’s going to come.

“We’re probably still waiting for the ‘Sammy (Ameobi) bus’, but he's looking a bit better this year and obviously that's important.”

Tomorrow’s game at West Brom marks Newcastle’s final outing before the last international break of the year, and Pardew will use the two-week hiatus to take stock of recent events and begin to step up his planning ahead of the January transfer window.

“The last window worked for us as we tried to analyse things and find a formula,” he said. “We need to assess ourselves again and certainly start looking at January to see if there's business we need to do or something we need to keep a close watch on.”