Newcastle United Agree £5 Million Deal For Inter Milan's Davide Santon?

Newcastle United's talks with PSV Eindhoven left back Erik Pieters are still said to be up in the air, The Daily Mail last night linked 20 year old Inter Milan full back & Italy international Davide Santon to the club. The newspaper, in truth hardly the most reliable source for transfer rumours, claim a £5 million deal has been agreed between the two clubs and it's just a matter of tieing up personal terms with the player before the window shuts on Wednesday. Santon is an attack minded full back whose pace and energy has frightened teams in Serie A and his versatility will be of huge interest to manager Alan Pardew who obviously needs a left back, but also has no real cover for either flanks (James Perch couldn't even make the bench yesterday as the manager decided to go with no defenders instead of naming him in the squad... and with good reason). Perhaps he might even be seen as a replacement for the often shaky Danny Simpson. The player has been highly thought of in Italy and has been with the club since he was 14 and former Italy head coach Marcello Lippi even called him a young "Paolo Maldini" as little as two years ago. Santon already has two Serie A titles, a Champions League and Coppa Italia trophy on his CV! He has been bred for success at a young age and is used to winning things and his work-rate and competitive personality has been spoken of favorably by Cristiano Ronaldo (who lined up against him when a Man Utd player in Europe) and former manager Jose Mourinho. If he's that good, why isn't he playing for Inter, you ask? Well it's a tough side to get into when the likes of Maicon and Chivu are the full backs and a few injuries suffered his promising progress, leading them to farm him out on loan last January to A.C. Cesena. The player is itching for first time football and Newcastle United would be able to provide that for him and it would be a stunning, under-the-radar piece of business to nab such a promising prospect under the eyes of bigger clubs. Meanwhile the same paper say Newcastle are mulling over the season long transfer of 27-year-old Czech goalkeeper Petr Bolek. He plays for Slovakian side FK Senica and would be seen as necessary cover for Tim Krul and Steve Harper for the season, and a cheaper option than simply buying another player who we would only need in an emergency (Charlton turned down Newcastle's derisory offer for Rob Elliott and accused The Magpies of attempting to tap up the player and Watford keeper Scott Loach would be too expensive). Bolek, who reportedly has an offer from Leyton Orient, is to train with Newcastle this week before deciding on which club to join.