Federico Macheda Joining Newcastle United On Loan?

(I am a lifelong Newcastle United supporter so expect my articles to be heavy slanted towards the Geordies as they are written for the like-minded).Federico Macheda's agent has confirmed that Newcastle United are in talks with Manchester United over a proposed loan move for the 20 year old Italian striker. Despite impressing a few seasons back as a super sub, Macheda has struggled to find game time for the Champions in the last two seasons with Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Javi Hernandez, Michael Owen and now Danny Welbeck all ahead of him. He had to spend time on loan at Sampdoria in the last campaign, scoring only once in 14 appearances though to be fair he was in a struggling team that eventually got relegated so his record perhaps should not come under so much scrutiny. In the Premier League Macheda has always impressed and is a natural goalscorer, something Newcastle United badly need and a loan transfer for such a hungry player with something to prove seems a no brainer. However Newcastle fans will remember how eerily similar this transfer sounds to that of Giuseppe Rossi who came to the North East under Glen Roeder but was inexplicably rarely before returning to Man Utd. He later joined Villareal and is now one of the top strikers in the Spanish league. Hopefully if a deal goes through we can expect Macheda to get considerably more pitch time, though his agent has also warned that QPR are circling the striker for the same kind of loan move but did say "At this time, Newcastle has the edge over Queens Park Rangers." Meanwhile fullback Davide Santon's move to Newcastle from Inter Milan that we told you about yesterday looks like it's a done deal, the player undergoing a medical today. A cracking signing from Alan Pardew for a player that has been brought up with a winning mentality having won two Serie A titles and a Champions League trophy at the age of just 20. From what we gather the move for Santon does not affect Pardew's wish to bring in a dedicated left back and PSV Eindhoven's Erik Pieters is still being chased. Elsewhere Newcastle are trying to strengthen their goalkeeping options with both Chartlon's Rob Elliott and Slovakian side FK Senica's Czech keeper Petr Bolek on Tyenside for medicals. It's not yet known if Newcastle will bring in both goalkeepers or just one... but we have heard Steve Harper's inability to stay fit is a big worry at the club and youngster Ole Soderberg has been on the bench for the games this season backing up no 1 choice Tim Krul. And finally Newcastle are still trying to bring Sochaux striker Modigo Maiga to the club, with the French club's Chairman saying;

"There has been an offer from them (Newcastle) but my goal is to maintain a competitive team. I won€™t sell Modibo without having found a replacement."