FABRICIO COLOCCINI may not have put pen-to-paper on a new contract at Newcastle United, but it is little wonder manager Alan Pardew has the money men behind the scenes working hard on keeping the Argentine.

The hope on Tyneside is that the man from Cordoba decides to commit his future to the club beyond the 18 months he has left on his existing terms. Whether he stays or goes, though, he insists one thing is staying put: His curly hair.

The locks on the top of his head have been with him since his teenage years at Boca Juniors and, with the exception of a few ‘difficult months' after a run in with Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta, he is intending to keep them a lot longer.

And given how he is settled and enjoying life in the North-East, Newcastle fans have been heartened to learn Pardew is hopeful an agreement can be reached over extending the centre-back's contract. So the captain's hair could become an even longer term fixture in front of the Gallowgate.

"No, no, I won't be cutting it," he said. "I had it short for a brief period in 2000 when I was in Milan. But I'm not going back to that, it was a one-off. I like it long. When I was there, the older players would often say to me 'come on, cut your hair, cut your hair!

"So at one stage, Paolo Maldini and Costacurta took me into the chair and cut it for me. Straight off. It was very short. I don't think any of my current team-mates would do the same to me now."

Coloccini's hair style is not something normally adopted by English footballers, but he says that in South America his look is more common place. Fortunately for Newcastle, Argentina is also famed for producing exceptional football talents.

The 29-year-old might have struggled to deal with the pace of the Premier League when he first moved from Deportivo La Coruna in August 2008, but he heads in to this afternoon's visit of Wigan as one of the best performing centre-backs in the country.

"It's totally different now. We've started well, the fans are happy so it's different," said Coloccini. "Maybe when we went down, there came some offers to leave and I could have gone.

"But it actually helped me to play in the Championship. It was a good experience for me, the first year wasn't good so to play and get confidence was good, not only for me but most of the lads.

"When I came in the first year it was tough, times were tough, now it's one of the best given the start we've had. It's the best time I've had here.

"When I came here, I didn't know what English football was like. Every player who comes to England maybe needs six months to a year to get to know the league. The first year I had a few problems because Spanish football is so different."

Coloccini arrived at Newcastle on the back of spells at some of the world's biggest clubs. After starting out at Boca Juniors, he spent time on loan at Alaves, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal from AC Milan before heading to Deportivo.

But this season's start in the Premier League has been a period in his life which he will remember forever, although he is keen to see Newcastle's unbeaten start to the campaign does not come to a sudden halt.

"It's like building a house here," he said. "First you have to put the foundations in place. We have to first get to 43-44 points, and when we've done this, we can start thinking about other things. Hopefully with the good start the foundations are in place this season.

"Maybe it's normal for the fans to get a bit carried away, there's nothing wrong with that, for them to want us to qualify for the Europa League.

"We have to be clever, and try to keep going as we are and we'll only do that by working hard out on the pitch to keep getting the results."

And having Coloccini has the team's captain is something which Pardew feels can benefit Newcastle for the long term.

"He's a Rolls Royce player and a Rolls Royce person too," said the Newcastle boss. "I was pleasantly surprised at what a hardworking, disciplined footballer he was.

"This year he has been outstanding. I would definitely say he has been our best player up until this period. He's probably unfortunate he isn't getting selected for the national team."