THE planned £6.7 million transfer of Parma's Colombian World Cup striker Faustino Asprilla to Newcastle United appears to have fallen through yesterday. Parma chairman Giorgio Pedraneschi said a halt was called yesterday morning when officials of the two clubs met in Milan.

"Newcastle continue to maintain that there are problems with Asprilla's knee and so they want a big cut in the price. We have medical reports which tell us the opposite and as a result it was not possible to reach any sort of agreement."

He said Parma, who moved up to joint second in Italy's serie A yesterday after a 1-0 win over Sampdoria, were now considering whether to seek arbitration from, "FIFA.

"We will decide that in the next few days," Pedraneschi told reporters. "If we do that, it will be above all to protect ourselves and so that everyone knows that the contract is valid and that the player is healthy."

Newcastle have said little about the talks since their interest in Asprilla, 26, emerged two weeks ago. Chairman Sir John Hall said last Thursday that the club had not abandoned their bid but added: "There are still a number of matters to be resolved to our satisfaction."

Asprilla joined Parma in 1992 and has scored 25 goals in 84 league matches, though he has played only six games this season, most recently in the club's 4-0 win against Cagliari on January 14th when he came on as a substitute.