Former Newcastle United midfielder Jonas Gutierrez has claimed he was deliberately left out of the Magpies' first team in order to avoid a mandatory contract extension after he had recovered from testicular cancer.

The 32-year old, who joined Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna in 2015, is suing Newcastle for 2 million pounds ($2.84 million) over disability discrimination, saying that he was dropped due to his year-long battle with the illness.

"Due to their concerns about my cancer, I consider that the club then ensured that I would not be selected to start in a sufficient number of matches to trigger the option," Gutierrez said in a witness statement at the employment tribunal hearing.

"I believe that the reason for this was due to my cancer diagnosis and very recent operation to remove the tumour, as I had clearly been a crucial part of Newcastle's first team lineup to this point," Gutierrez said

"I think they feared that my illness would mean that I could no longer play at the highest level and they considered me to be a liability."

The Argentine also said that former Newcastle boss Alan Pardew told him he was not part of the club's plans and was free to leave.

The tribunal is expected to last for 10 days.

Gutierrez joined Newcastle from Mallorca in the 2008-09 season and impressed in his debut outing against Manchester United.

He went on make 180 appearances for the North East club before moving to La Liga side Deportivo La Coruna after a brief loan spell at Norwich City.

($1 = 0.7047 pounds)

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