Santon to have knee "cleaned out" - Pardew

Further details have emerged over the extent of Davide Santon's knee injury, and the general prognosis is better than I personally had first feared.

The 20-year-old will undergo keyhole surgery to "clean up" the knee which will keep sidelined for around four weeks should everything go to plan. Personally when I first heard that it was a knee cartilage injury I thought we were talking months and not weeks so I guess it's a slight bonus.

It does raise the question of how this problem wasn't picked up during the players medical however. I mean Santon has a history of knee problems which was fairly easily exposed by you guys with a computer, internet, and a few minutes to spare, so why weren't these highly paid doctors aware of the issue? How did he pass the medical?

The only thing I can think of is that it was found, but it was deemed to be an issue that was low risk. I'm quite unsure how they could come to that conclusion knowing that he has suffered from the same problem on the same knee twice before but then again I'm not a doctor and I don't know how it all works.

It's a blow for Newcastle in all honesty. Santon would have surely made his debut this weekend at Aston Villa but now he is on the sidelines without even kicking a competitive ball for us.

On Santon's injury, Pardew had this to say:

“It looks like it could be a cartilage. He is going to have the knee cleaned out and then keyhole surgery, which will mean at least four weeks out.”

I was really looking forward to seeing Santon in action for us. I think he could turn out to be a fantastic player and is one of only a handful of players that has the potential to leave me saying "Jose who?". I just hope, much like Jose's banjo hamstrings, that Santon's knee can be cleared up for good.

As for as left-back goes, we obviously have Ryan Taylor which fills me with zero confidence, although he isn't our only option. Tamas Kadar played well for the reserves the other day, as did fit again Shane Ferguson. They may both be young, be they are options that we can call upon. Options that we didn't have a few weeks ago.

As for Santon, hopefully it is closer to the four week diagnosis and we'll see him in action sooner rather later.

Get well soon Davide!