STEVE McCLAREN insists he does not want to lose Fabricio Coloccini during the current transfer window, but Crystal Palace are increasingly confident of taking the Newcastle United skipper to Selhurst Park.

Coloccini was nowhere to be seen as Newcastle continued their pre-season preparations with a 2-2 draw at Sheffield United yesterday, with an Achilles injury cited as the reason why he has not participated in any of the Magpies’ five friendly outings this summer.

The Argentinian travelled to the United States and took part in the majority of the training sessions during the recent tour, but his future appears increasingly uncertain with Crystal Palace officials having signalled a desire to reunite him with his former boss, Alan Pardew, in South London.

The 33-year-old has entered the final year of his current contract at St James’ Park, and with his weekly wages of around £80,000-a-week making him Newcastle’s biggest earner by some distance, managing director Lee Charnley would have to give serious consideration to any formal offer that was lodged before the end of next month.

McClaren does not want to lose Coloccini before he has had the chance to see him in action, although the impending arrival of DR Congo international Chancel Mbemba would at least temper the blow of the centre-half’s departure if he was to leave for Selhurst Park.

“I’ve come in and been told to assess the squad, and I’ve been delighted with Colo’s attitude,” said McClaren. “Certainly in training and with the way he’s been around the place. That’s great, but we need him on the field.

“When you’re coming in fresh, you’re not labelling anybody. I’ve looked at the squad, and looked at Coloccini in training, and he’s one of our best players. I know things were difficult last season, but I want him out on the field and in a Newcastle shirt, playing for the team.

“I’m confident he’ll be here (at the start of the season). We want him playing, but unfortunately he’s got a little niggle, which apparently he has every season and it has to be taken care of. He’s working on his conditioning, and in America he was out there training most of the time.

“Because of the surface, he couldn’t play in the last game (against Portland Timbers), and he’s got a little niggle today. We’re still working, and there’s still enough time for him to play on the opening day.

“He needs a good week this week, and he needs to play on Saturday (against Borussia Monchengladbach). We need him in the team.”

McClaren had been hoping to field Mbemba in yesterday’s game, but Newcastle’s attempts to finalise the defender’s £8m move from Anderlecht have been thwarted by Football Association bureaucracy.

The Magpies have agreed personal terms with the 21-year-old, and Mbemba successfully passed his medical on Tyneside last week, but in order to secure a visa for the non-EU national, Newcastle officials need a Governing Body Endorsement from the FA.

The endorsement is a routine procedure, but despite Newcastle submitting the relevant forms last Wednesday, the FA have refused to convene a meeting until this Thursday, meaning Mbemba will be unable to appear in Wednesday’s friendly at York City.

Whether he plays in the Magpies’ final pre-season outing against Borussia Monchengladbach remains to be seen, and the delay is clearly causing considerable frustration as it is hampering Mbemba’s hopes of being involved in the opening game of the Premier League season against Southampton on August 9.

“We said from the start that we would have to be patient and try to get the right players when they were available, and we have done,” said McClaren. “We’ve been fortunate with (Georginio) Wijnaldum that we got him working with us straight away.

“(Aleksandar) Mitrovic will hopefully have ten days working with us, but with Mbemba, we’re still hoping to get the visa as quickly as we can for him to join us as well. The sooner we can get him in, the better.”

While Mbemba was not involved at Bramall Lane, another of Newcastle’s summer signings, Wijnaldum, made his first appearance on English soil and impressed in the ‘number ten’ role.

Having teed up Papiss Cisse for a second-minute effort that struck the outside of the left-hand post, Wijnaldum opened the scoring shortly before half-time as he stroked home the rebound after Sheffield United goalkeeper George Long saved Cisse’s initial effort.

The Blades equalised four minutes into the second half when Newcastle’s back four was caught extremely square, enabling Marc McNulty to advance into the area unchecked before drilling a fierce low shot through Tim Krul’s legs.

Newcastle reclaimed their advantage through a well-worked corner routine with 11 minutes left, with Cisse flicking on at the front post to enable substitute Siem de Jong to ghost into the six-yard box and convert from close range.

However, Sheffield United claimed a deserved draw when full-back Kieron Freeman smashed home a superb long-range volley.

“We started the game very well, very comfortably, but then coming out after half-time you could see the effects of all the travel,” said McClaren. “I'm delighted with their attitude in that second half. They got through it, they got minutes in their legs and now we’ve got a few days to recover.”

Sheff Utd (4-4-2): Long; Freeman, Collins (Morgan 87), McEveley (K Wallace 85), McFadzean; Woolford (Campbell-Ryce 46), Basham (J Wallace 75), Baxter (Reed 69), Murphy (Scougall 58); McNulty  (Done 60), Adams (Sammon 60).

Subs (not used): Willis (gk), Di Girolamo, Calvert-Lewin.

Newcastle (4-2-3-1): Krul; Janmaat, Taylor (Lascelles 69), Williamson, Haidara; Anita (Obertan 59), Colback (Gouffran 87); Sissoko (Abeid 80), Wijnaldum (de Jong 73), Perez (Aarons 46); Cisse (Armstrong 80).

Subs (not used): Darlow (gk), Satka.