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

toonsy

Santon signs on.
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!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

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176 thoughts on “Santon: “This is an ambitious club who want to move forward””

  1. Thrilled with todays signings.

    Slight concern in that maiga seemed to be a done deal provided sochaux got gradel but now that he’s on his way to st. etienne i wonder if they’ll go for somebody else on short notice or just try to hold on to modi.

    Cissé seems a bit too good to be true; i know he’s unproven and a risk but seems like more money spent than pardew said they had set aside? maybe he didn’t say actual amount but got the impression when talking about erdinc that it was 7/8m

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  2. FJ….I said the other day, I think Harpers fecked for good, just think summat is going on that the club aren’t saying….did we get that other keeper on loan too?

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  4. richie,

    nufc.com, one of the more reliable transfer sites I’ve seen for us, says we’ve kept this Bolek guy on trial as courtesy for him coming over but we aren’t signing him since we’ve got Elliott now.

    I imagine Bolek will go to Leyton Orient for his permanent switch and first team football. Orient being the team we were fighting for him….

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  6. Lads does anyone else think that macheda is to come in to help santon settle?

    Where’s troy? 😆

    What did courtney say on talksport lads?

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  7. If Harper goes is he the last of the dressing room committee that was running the club albeit successfully.Do not cross Jabba and Owl Heed or you’re out

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  8. Toonpipes @ 69 Agreed. I think AC has felt homesick since two days after he signed. To be honest, I feel sorry for the lad, but I may be way wrong. Again, I dunno.

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  9. And yes, it would be a dream to have pieters as well but i think there’s too much work to be done on the striker front to get another big deal done even if they would part with the cash.

    Dreamland is a fun place to let your head wander for a few minutes though 😆

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  11. Liam – I’m guessing what Courtney said was a lie 😉 😆

    Anyone think Santon looks a bit Aaron Hughes?

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  12. Sorry Ice, forgot mate….same as diagnosis in UK 🙄 …..nowt they can do I’m afraid. 🙁

    FJ ah reet, thought they might have kept him too if my theory about Harps was correct.

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  15. Big Dave,

    SSN said they were going to show it. They played a little snip when saying it, it’s Paolo running down the tunnel, gripping one of his players, who looked about 6ft 6 tall and started rag dolling him about.

    Hilarious.

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  21. No I’m not Toonsy 👿

    You know if anyone is doing an article on the new goalkeeper? could bash it out for you if you want?

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  23. RICHIE nowt too long term mate i hope,will she be ok though?

    is there plenty english speaking docs over,as we could do with some in the u.k. 😀

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  24. Dave: Nah, don’t believe in player’s names but if you got me him I’d be happy 😉 😉

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  25. Toonsy 88 😉

    Zoe did I tell you I was half Italian? But also half Irish! :mrgreen:

    Maiga here we come?

    Think could spell the end of ranger and possibly lovenkrands

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  28. Conspiracy theory:

    Is it possible Ashley and Llambias always intended to spend the money like they said they would – but waited until the last 48 hours to spend most of it in an attempt to drive the “power gang” out, knowing they’d kick up a fuss?

    I mean, we have signed a fair few before they left but it was all freebies and gave an impression of penny pinching. Enrique and Barton kick off and we suddenly splurge £3m on Obertan, £5m on Santon and the scuttlebutt seems to indicate £7m or more on a striker.

    Ashley certainly seems the type to play mind games.

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  29. Got to give the club props where it’s due I haven’t seen much of the lad myself only Youtube clips but my fiancee’s brother (Mackem 👿 ) was saying that we would never get him because he is class. Was a pleasant phone call just now to inform him of the good news 😀 lol. We need to try and get another striker if possible and would be great to get Pieters as well but can’t see the club going for that as they probably believe they have signed the Enrique replacement so no further strengthening needed in that department.

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  30. Ice….it’ll only get worse, she’s in pain all the time and only thing she can do is excercise, usually goes to the gym twice a day…….I tell her it’s much worse for me when I get me man flu like 😆

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  34. Liam

    Loverman has to be out the picture now. Been a good servant but we are aiming to go to a different level than he can play

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  38. Toby, problem is getting someone to take him it seems? Was offered to rangers on a free, no? Maybe theyll reinvest their 7m windfall on his wages and a teapot MA style now though 😈
    Must be rated somewhat by pardew though to play him. Good character and all but getting past it

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  39. I want Lovenkrands to stay. He is still our only pacey striker who is built to match this midfield heavy passing style we are allegedly moving to.

    He can only leave if we are signing a new striker with lots of pace and we use Obertan more as a striker and less as a winger.

    What the hell is Obertan’s position anyway? We have Jonas and Marveaux for the wings with several back up options, is Obertan a striker?

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  40. Aye but if we sign Pieters and a striker and sell Lovenkrands you won’t see the bullshit bus lot for at least a fortnight. 😉

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  41. Toby – I like lovenkrands i think he runs his heart out and wouldnt mind if he stayed even to warm bench but in reality he would do well at a club like rangers.

    If we turn over qpr wonder what Barton will make of our squad now… If we sign more 😆

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  42. Some black player was scanned at nuffield today and will complete medical tomorrow. Dunno his name but supposed text from employee to twitterererer

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  46. Funny how certain people slated the club for being hit with tapping up when the two players could both be ours by tomorrow

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  47. FJ, leazes did a decent piece on the fulham game, was interesting about obertans positioning 1st v 2nd half.
    And yes, getting rid of lover is based on getting someone else with quick feet like pardew has eluded to….

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  50. DJG … they are quiet anyway – which is nice … however, as Batty pointed out above, they are waiting in the shadows ready to spring a NNNEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGG

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  51. Liam,

    Lovenkrands wasn’t a prolific scorer at Rangers when he was younger, he isn’t a 20 goal a season man, despite actually getting near that in the Championship. His movement is a space maker for others, on top of assists and goals. That’s his game, we’ve just rarely played to it.

    I would be gutted if Best left, batty. His form over the past 12 months means he should be £20m +. Torres went for £50m and he hadn’t scored for two years, god knows what Best is worth currently.

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  52. just seen videos of santon..looks like bale going forward..with pace and power…but i can see he likes a tackle…yellow cards or off…looks more like a winger hope i am wrong…

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  54. Toonsy 124 hehe probably was m8 or just getting deflea’d after being in scumderland 4 training 😆

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  55. DJG, aye, but imagine one of our “names” went. Every other comment would be them. 😆

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  56. stevey c

    August 30, 2011 at 22:34

    Some black player was scanned at nuffield today and will complete medical tomorrow.’

    They trying to see if he’s carrying something into the country first like? 😆

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  57. BurnsieBen Ben
    by Doddsy9
    MAIGA is also at the MARRIOT in Town now #nufc
    15 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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  58. As long as we dont sign Carlton cole tomorrow I dont care which striker it is! 😀

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  61. 131 DJG 😆 think it might have been dope….how he fitted agent bruce into a swallowable condom is beyond me! 😀

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  62. Batty I heard Valencia are flying Colo over tonight for a medical 😀 and the filth are after Best with a swap deal for Cattermole to replace Joey

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  64. Liam Southern – totally agree do not want to see carlton cole – but given the type of signing we have been making, hes not really in their league and a bit old … so think it unlikely .. Anyone got any morenews on Maiga being in town already? what happened to that craig coozy he used to get good info

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  65. Well if he lives up to the hype he generated a while back before the injuries this should be a good signing, although i would have prefered Pieters and Santon as we need better full backs on both sides.

    Just waiting for the striker (or striker AND right back preferably) and the clowns at the top will have earned a seasons grace so we have a chance to see how good the new signings will prove to be.

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  69. craig coozy has given up apparently, they said stop giving out info about our private clients or we’ll sack you and he said right oh!

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  70. Reet gents and lady off to me bed havin a late one tomoz neet see yaz there like. Hers hoping santa fetches some good prezzies on deadline day!!!! 🙂

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  71. B/HAM chairman given bail and permit to travel to u.k. from hong kong for work at club,is it ranger hes after 😀

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  74. Whey! A Christmas present from uncle Mike;
    But is it a tangerine or a brand new bike?
    I don’t know, I’ve never seen Santon play;
    Tis why I’m not getting carried away;
    I say to you all, get a grip and calm doon;
    Its a quality striker we need at the toon;
    If Bestie could larn to keep onside;
    He could wear the number 9 with pride;
    But its not so much what’s coming in, as what is gannin oot;
    So laugh, and laugh, and laugh some more, cos this transfer window’s a hoot.

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