Santon: "This is an ambitious club who want to move forward"

Newcastle have completed the signing of Davide Santon from Inter Milan. Santon will wear the number 3 shirt once worn by the recently departed Jose Enrique.

This move represents a real coup for the club in my opinion.

Santon has undoubted talent and potential and has drawn praise from illustrious names such as Marcelo Lippi, Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo for his performances. However he has found himself out on the fringes of the Inter Milan set up in recent months and even went on loan last season to get some playing time.

At only 20 years old there is plenty of time for him to improve. From what I've researched of him there seem to be little doubt about his ability with the main question mark being about his confidence. That is a job for Alan Pardew who will have to try and work out a way to rebuild the belief and get him back on the right track. Judging by the job he has done with Steven Taylor I'd say that Pards has a good chance of achieving that.

Santon has signed on for five years at St James' Park and cost in the region of £5 million although the exact amount is hidden behind the undisclosed fee label. Nonetheless it's a fantastic bit of business to get a player of his calibre for a fee which, in all fairness, is fairly modest.

Alan Pardew is understandably delighted to have captured a player who can play on both sides of the defence and who is likely to replace Jose Enrique's vacant left-back role.

Speaking to the club website Pardew said: "We are delighted to bring to Davide to Newcastle. He is a quality left-back and an established international who also gives us flexibility in defence."

"Davide is a young lad and a great signing for us and I am sure he will adapt to the Premier League very quickly."

It certainly seems as though left-back is a position that has been nailed on by Santon. He may well be right-footed but he started the majority of his 40 appearances for Inter Milan in that very role. We'll see how it works out and how he adapts.

I suppose I must give a bit of credit to Derek Llambias for this. I'm quick to criticise him for his transfer dealings and the way he negotiates so I guess I have to be fair and let him have his moment of glory. Llambias said:

"The signing of Davide Santon is a real coup for this Club. It confirms our commitment to bringing quality players whose best years are ahead of them to St. James' Park."

Last and by no means least I guess we need to hear what the player in question has had to say about his move to the North-East. I'd really love for someone to ask him if he has ever seen a Mackem in Milan? I don't think it will happen though unfortunately.

Speaking of his move Santon said: "I am really pleased to sign for Newcastle. The chance to play in the Premier League and in front of 50,000 fans at St. James' Park was too good to turn down."

"This is an ambitious club who want to move forward and I want to help them achieve that."

It's a very good move and caps need to be doffed to those involved. We have a player who has played in Champions League ties and won titles in Italy who still has potential to improve. In fact his potential is virtually untapped and he is already a full Italy international.

Hopefully he settles in quickly and we can see him in action against Queens Park Rangers in a couple of weeks time.

Welcome to Newcastle, Davide!