Newcastle have slapped a £10 million price tag on full-back Davide Santon as rumours of big clubs in his native Italy being interested in his signature persist. The Sunday Express report that the one link that won't go away is Roma with boss Rudi Garcia said to be impressed by Santon's versatility, intrigued by his ability to play on either flank. AC Milan are also said to be monitoring the situation regarding the former Inter youngster. Santon made 27 starts for The Magpies last season but Alan Pardew seemingly lost faith in his defensive contributions as the season wore on, beginning by substituting him first when things weren't going well and then relegating him to the bench in favour of Paul Dummett and Massadio Haidara. Injuries didn't help either in the final third of the campaign. Still only 23, Santon has so much potential and should be seen as one of our biggest assets. He is reminiscent of Gareth Bale during his early time at Tottenham in so much that he's simply not being played to his strengths. He's not a defender. That should be obvious to anyone who has watched his time at Newcastle. The weakest aspect of Santon's game is he defending when the positives of him is his pace and marauding spirit in going forward. He can skip past players for fun and without the shackles of worrying about trying to defend, he could become a major threat in the final third of the pitch if he was just played in a more natural position on the wings. It is true his final product is too often lacking but with dedicated time on the training ground on his distribution and being switched to midfield next season, I believe it would result in the same kind of impact that helped Bale become a giant at Spurs after question marks over his ability. Davide Santon is no more a full-back than Gareth Bale was. With that switch Santon could easily become a dominant force at Newcastle for the next ten years. The move particularly makes sense with the emergence of a real athlete in Haidara who at just 20-years-old looks a real prospect at left-back and should definitely start the campaign in that position next season and not Dummett or Santon. Santon should be a winger, either on the left or right flank. Despite his obvious talent, there's been a feeling on Tyneside that Newcastle don't rate Santon too highly. It's a huge shame as he genuinely feels settled on Tyneside with his Geordie girlfriend, with whom he has just had a child with and his desire to stay despite interest from major European clubs back home. Let's not forget this is a talent who Jose Mourinho really admired at Inter Milan where Santon won both the Serie A and the Champions League when he was a teenager and he actually seems to enjoy Newcastle and isn't looking to leave at the first sniff of interest elsewhere. Mourinho is quoted as saying about our Italian;
"Whenever I find someone who has everything to become a top player and stay in the first team I've never held back in giving them a chance.
"I'm talking about Davide Santon who is now at Newcastle.
"Santon has suffered two great misfortunes.
"However, at 17-years-old everybody was saying that he would become for Inter what Paolo Maldini was for AC Milan."
The misfortunes that Mourinho speak is the knee injury that halted his rapid rise to the first team at Inter and that ultimately led to him losing his place and becoming available for transfer, with Newcastle astutely picking him up for £5.5 million in 2011. He's worth double that now and his much potential much more so and making sure he is still in our squad come the end of the the next transfer window seems imperative.
Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.
