Jonas Gutierrez interview, 10 years on: Cancer, his Newcastle exit and being loved by Maradona

New York Times

23-05-2025

After a decade of deliberation, Jonas Gutierrez accepts the way he left Newcastle United was perfect. Not the exit itself — he is still exasperated by his treatment — but the manner in which he signed off.
'With time to reflect, if I had to choose one moment to leave, it has to be that,' Gutierrez says. 'Beforehand, I said to John Carver (the interim head coach), 'Listen, I have a feeling I have to play this game'. It was like a movie script.'
Saturday marks 10 years since Gutierrez assisted Newcastle's opener against West Ham United, before scoring an extremely emotional second with five minutes remaining — the goal which confirmed his adopted club would avoid relegation from the Premier League.
It was Gutierrez's first goal since his return from testicular cancer and since being told his contract would not be renewed. He was dismayed, believing his illness was used by the club's hierarchy to engineer an early exit.
'I love the club and felt I deserved to continue for everything I'd done for seven years,' Gutierrez tells The Athletic. 'Before my illness, I rarely missed games and I'd play so many positions, never complaining.
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'To have news they don't want you, in that way, it was so sad. Over the months before, I could expect what they wanted. Now I think, 'Oh, it was the best to leave in that way'.'
Initially, Gutierrez's memories were soured by final confirmation he would not receive a new deal. The Argentinian was in Northern Ireland on a coaching course with Ryan Taylor, who was informed of his own release in a call with Carver, then the coach asked to be passed to Gutierrez.
'It made me think they don't care about anything,' Gutierrez told BBC Radio 5 Live in 2015. The 'they' was the club's hierarchy under Mike Ashley, the former owner, with Gutierrez's frenzied celebration against West Ham aimed at the boardroom.
'It was not planned, it just happened,' says Gutierrez, referring to his decision to hold his hands behind his ears. 'My celebration was for… let's call them some 'special people'.
'I didn't deserve the treatment I received. It came from inside of me and I wanted them to know this is not the way you treat a person.'
Only in time would the extent of Gutierrez's grievance become clear. In April 2016, Gutierrez won a disability-discrimination lawsuit against the club. It was deemed that Newcastle opted against selecting him due to his diagnosis, preventing him from exercising an extension.
'That goal was my best feeling in football, one I still enjoy,' says Gutierrez. 'The goal was so important for Newcastle, the celebration, and me remembering what I'd been through. I could feel the love of the fans, knowing this was going to be my last goal, my last game. It was something really special.'
When Gutierrez collided with Bacary Sagna during Newcastle's defeat against Arsenal on May 19, 2013, he felt pain around his genitals. When the discomfort did not subside, Gutierrez sought medical advice and a tumour was discovered on the then 30-year-old's testicle.
'I had an inflammation,' Gutierrez says. 'The specialist called and said, 'You have cancer'. I was walking the dog and started crying because it impacts you immediately. I had never known much about cancer. It was frustrating, but I went home, spoke with my family and they said, 'Keep calm, we are going to do the best for your recovery'.'
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Was he scared? 'Scared is not the word,' he says. 'You don't really know how it's going to be, what's going on, so it makes you nervous. That's how I'd describe it.'
Gutierrez returned to Argentina, where he paid for his own surgery to remove the testicle that October.
'I knew it (the health system) in Argentina and decided to go back because I can't understand the medical words 100 per cent in Newcastle,' Gutierrez says. 'Imagine having something like that explained to you in another language. I also wanted to be at home, around family. It was the best decision.'
Football still carries elements of overt masculinity, but Gutierrez had no hesitation in having the operation.
'When you're a professional footballer, you have the best quality medicine and nutrition, you think that nothing can happen to you — that's the mindset you have,' Gutierrez says. 'But then you realise it can happen to anyone.
'Once I knew I had cancer, I thought, 'I'm going 100 per cent for my recovery'. I didn't know if I was going to play football again. The main point was my recovery.'
Within six weeks, he was training again. 'Then I thought, 'Now I'll try to play football again',' says Gutierrez. 'Only after I'd recovered. Before it was not in my mind.'
In December 2013, Gutierrez returned to Tyneside expecting to rejoin the first-team setup. But Alan Pardew, the manager, told him to look for a new club and he joined Norwich City on loan.
'It was incredible to be told that,' Gutierrez says. 'I can laugh about it now. But I got frustrated, sad. I'd come back from an operation, had cancer, and the first week I was back in Newcastle, the manager told me, 'We're loaning you'.
'Imagine how you'd feel… I couldn't understand that type of decision. But then, over time, you come to understand really where they are coming from… .'
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Again, Gutierrez is referring to Newcastle's hierarchy and what he felt were their attempts to prevent him earning a contract extension. At the tribunal in Birmingham, Gutierrez broke down in tears when he was cross-examined by Newcastle's lawyers and, once the panel (partly) found in his favour, he claims to have received congratulatory messages from his former team-mates.
'The first thing is you have to treat someone as a person,' says Gutierrez. 'It's important to be human. That's why I got so sad with some people in Newcastle and I'm so glad about the support of the fans because they were always with me.'
The initial surgery did not rid Gutierrez's body of cancer, either. He felt pain in his kidneys and his second check-up detected the illness had spread. He returned to Argentina during the summer of 2014 and, while staying at his parents' home in Buenos Aires, underwent invasive chemotherapy, which often left him bedridden.
'It makes you so tired, you get headaches, pains,' Gutierrez says. 'Imagine as someone who always plays sport, you feel no energy — it's really hard. Then you lose hair, on your head and whole body, but it's what you have to do to be healthy again.'
For a year, Gutierrez kept his diagnosis private. Aside from Fabricio Coloccini, his best friend, the Newcastle squad were not even told.
'We didn't make it public,' says Gutierrez. 'The board knew, but the players, not at the beginning. We waited to know what I had to go through before telling everyone.'
Supporters only became aware of Gutierrez's condition following an interview in Argentina in September 2014. Fans chanted his name and applauded in the 18th minute of matches, due to his squad number. Papiss Cisse celebrated scoring against Hull City by revealing a vest with the message, 'Always looking forward Jonas,' while Steve Harper helped create the clothing brand OddBalls to raise awareness of the illness.
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'The love of the fans and my team-mates, I felt it from Argentina,' Gutierrez says. 'It gave me strength.'
Just 15 days after being signed off, he ran the Buenos Aires marathon in five hours, 22 minutes, to encourage others to check for symptoms. The initial proposal was to merely start and finish the race.
'I said, 'No chance, I'm doing it all',' he says. 'My fitness coach said, 'You're crazy'. But I did it. Unbelievable.'
Even so, chemotherapy decimated him physically. 'What I really lost was muscle,' says Gutierrez. 'I felt weak crossing, passing and shooting. It took me three months to be back in the best condition.'
Gutierrez made his comeback as a substitute against Manchester United on March 4, 2015. Greeted by a huge ovation, Coloccini, the captain, then passed the armband to Gutierrez, who was making his first Newcastle appearance for 17 months.
He sported a new tattoo on his arm, with the date he received the all-clear (03-11-14) and lyrics from Eminem's No Love: 'I'm alive again, more alive than I have been in my whole entire life.'
Despite representing Argentina at a World Cup, playing again for Newcastle is what Gutierrez considers his greatest achievement.
'In Argentina, the World Cup is the best because we love to represent our country in that shirt,' Gutierrez says. 'But these memories from Newcastle I have in my heart and head, I'll never forget them. Since going through my illness and starting another part of my life, the second part, it had to be my biggest moment.'
If Gutierrez's talents were always appreciated by Newcastle fans, his greatest proponent was one of the finest players in history.
In 2009, Diego Maradona, then Argentina's manager, declared his team was, '(Javier) Mascherano, (Lionel) Messi, Gutierrez — and eight others.'
'We built a really strong relationship. He loved the way I played,' says Gutierrez, beaming over video call from his home near Buenos Aires, while pouring himself some mate, the herbal drink. 'He's a hero around the world. To have Messi on the pitch alongside me and Diego on the bench, can you imagine? We were privileged.'
So why did Maradona take such a shine to him? 'He told me he liked the way I play, the character I show,' Gutierrez says. 'He was really proud of how I defended the shirt. The best player in history, alongside Messi, telling me that. Wow!'
Gutierrez won 22 caps, featuring at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa alongside Messi.
'Messi is something I can't explain,' he says. 'I've played with a lot of fantastic players, but Messi is like two steps above. He's something different. I've never seen something similar to what he can do with the ball.'
Maradona was not only pivotal for Gutierrez with Argentina. He also helped convince Gutierrez to stay at Newcastle following relegation in 2009.
'I'm so grateful because it was a hard moment,' Gutierrez says. 'Many managers expect internationals to be in the top division, but I wanted to stay and he told me: 'I don't care. I know you're happy there. The only thing I need from you is to play, nothing else'.
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'That was fantastic for me because I enjoyed it in Newcastle from the moment I arrived. Staying was one of my best decisions.'
The sentiment is genuine, yet it still feels remarkable, given the chaos during Gutierrez's first season. Newcastle had four managers and were demoted, but Gutierrez immediately felt at home.
Supporters embraced him as 'Spiderman', following a celebration he performed at Real Mallorca after meeting a fan and his son at a cinema.
'I promised the boy I'd do a special celebration and Spiderman was just out,' says Gutierrez. 'I bought a mask and had it in my underwear. I did the celebration and when I arrived in Newcastle, fans called me 'Spiderman', asking me to do it. I bought three over the years because I kept washing it!'
In 205 appearances across seven years, Gutierrez helped Newcastle achieve promotion in 2009-10 and a fifth-place finish in 2011-12. He scored 12 goals, including a memorable strike against Wolverhampton Wanderers in October 2011.
'All the goals were special,' Gutierrez says. 'But the Wolves one, when I showed skills and shot with my left foot, I like most.'
The 41-year-old is currently playing for Las Toninas in the Argentine fifth tier, where his return was received 'like a revolution'. Unsure how long he will continue, Gutierrez would 'love to be involved in Newcastle, the city or club, in the future, potentially in coaching'.
Last month, he was filmed busking in Newcastle city centre. 'I love to play guitar,' Gutierrez says. 'I saw a guy playing and asked if he'd let me perform one song. I felt right at home.'
Here's former #NUFC midfielder and cult hero Jonas Guttierez out busking in the city centre this evening. 🥹🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/2bnbexB5Ba
— Magpie Media (@MagpieMediaX) April 29, 2025
In March, Gutierrez was at Wembley to watch Newcastle finally end their 70-year domestic trophy drought.
'It was incredible because that city deserves it,' he says. 'We wanted to win a trophy but we couldn't and that made me upset because you didn't feel the club wanted to reach its potential. Newcastle should be one of the four biggest clubs in England — with Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal — I always felt that.
'You can see how the club has changed. Two finals, Champions League, a trophy — it's different now. They needed one trophy, one impact, and they would take off.'
He may have left a decade ago in testing circumstances, but Gutierrez's connection to Newcastle remains undiminished.
'I'll always love the fans and the city,' Gutierrez says. 'I'm one Geordie more.'