The 31-year-old central defender broke two bones in his back after landing awkwardly as he made a spectacular overhead clearance during United's 4-2 Barclays Premier League victory over Southampton on February 24!
With all the special medical treatment players go through these days, I don't believe it has taken two weeks to find out Colo has a broken back.
Coloccini has been allowed to return to his native Argentina for a week to work with his national association's medical team, but Pardew is expecting him to be sidelined for some time.
Alan Pardew: "Colo has gone back to Argentina. There's no treatment he can have - he's broken two of the bones in his back.
"We think it's going to be anything between three and seven weeks. He's gone back for a week."
Call me suspicious - but there seems to be a lot more to this than meets the eye.
The official line is that he would miss most of the remainder of the season ... but with his future still up in the air and his desire to return to South America because of personal problems - the Toon Army may have seen the end of him in a black and white shirt.
The recruitment of Montpellier's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa has provided Pardew with a ready-made replacement, although should either he or Steven Taylor break down during the remaining weeks of the campaign, the 51-year-old's defensive resources would be stretched once again.