Davide Santon will commit his future to Newcastle and put to bed rumours of a return to his native Italy by signing a new contract at St James' Park. It was suggested last week that AC Milan had placed Santon at the top of their summer shopping list and were prepared to offer us Guinean full-back Kevin Constant in exchange, but the Daily Mail report that the Magpies have offered the 23-year-old a fresh deal to remain at St James' Park. Renzo Contratto, Santon's representative, delivered the good news via an Italian radio station where he confirmed the link with Milan was pure hearsay and that his client won't be leaving the Club. "Santon is happy at Newcastle and has just been offered a new contract," the Mail have Contratto as saying to ASRadioRoma. "Other teams want him? Theyre just rumours." With the first-team set to be culled of several big names in pre-season it is reassuring to learn that Santon will be sticking around and, despite a massive dip in form towards the end of last season, he is still a player of impeccable pedigree. That being said we haven't yet seen the consistent best of the left-back in the 93 games he's played for Newcastle since a £5 million switch from Inter Milan in 2003, but we're convinced he will prove to be huge asset to the Club in years to come. Whether that is on the left side of our back four - the position he prefers - or on the right will ultimately be dictated by Mathieu Debuchy and whether he decides to follow close friend Yohan Cabaye back to France.
