Santon injured already

Newcastle new boy Davide Santon could be out of action for a while after picking up a knee injury during training this morning.

The news will come as a blow to the Italian who had hoped to make his debut against Aston Villa at the weekend although that has now gone out of the window. Alan Pardew will also be rocked by the news and, to be honest, I'm pretty certain that a lot of fans will be rather irked by this piece of bad news.

There is very little news about this as I've just heard it on Sky Sports News, but they are speculating that that Italian U21 international is currently undergoing scans and that it is believed to a knee ligament problem. Alan Pardew claims different though and says that the club believe that it is a knee cartilage problem.

"Unfortunately Davide has hurt his knee in training and been sent for a scan," Pardew told the Chronicle.

"It is an injury he has had before, we think it is a cartilage problem. We thought it was best to send him for a scan."

The length of absence depends on the extent of the injury so fingers crossed that when the results of the scan come through it shows only a minor problem. It won't be enough to get him back for the weekend but at least it would mean that he isn't out for a sustained period of time.

However, if it's and one, then Santon could be out for a very long time. We're talking months, plural. I feel this worst case scenario is something that is going to become reality.

More to follow...