Reporter Paddy Agnew reports from Rome on Parma's plight (30")

Newcastle have given Italian club Parma the go ahead to talk to their Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla.

Newcastle's permission is a necessary first stage if the striker is to return to the club he left for Tyneside in 1996.

Parma have confirmed they want to bring Asprilla back to Italy but have yet to reach an agreement with Newcastle United.

..because he has spent most of the season on the bench...

And at a press conference on Thursday Newcastle manager Kenny Dalglish said he could go.

"If he wants to leave, there is not much you can do about it," said Dalglish, who confirmed Asprilla had asked for a transfer to Parma.

"The club is interested in Asprilla and Asprilla would like to come back to Parma," said Parma spokesperson Giorgio Bottaro.

...and has scored just two league goals

"But at the moment there is no official deal with Newcastle. Even if we do reach an agreement, Asprilla would have to pass a medical examination before signing.

"You know, he had surgery," Bottaro added, referring to a groin operation Asprilla had late last year.

However, he denied the striker was already in Parma and said the club were still "far from that point".

The English club at first denied reports that they were on the verge of selling the 28 year-old striker back to Parma for £7.3m.

But "Surprise Parma -- Asprilla Returns," ran the frontpage headline in the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport daily.

The newspaper quoted Asprilla as saying he would be thrilled to return and said he would undergo medical tests in Parma on Thursday night.

Newcastle, whose recent Premiership campaigns were characterised by vibrant attacking football, have seen their strike force decimated this season.

Since buying Alan Shearer for £15m the club have sold

• Darren Huckerby to Coventry for £1m in November 1996
• Paul Kitson to West Ham for £2.3m in February 1997.
• Les Ferdinand to Tottenham Hotspur for £6m in July 1997.
• David Ginola to Tottenham Hotspur for £2m in July 1997.
• Peter Beardsley to Bolton Wanderers for £400,000 in August 1997.

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