Santon has sights on being a success at NUFC

Jan 15 2012 by Mark Douglas, Sunday Sun

IT is the land which brought us Paolo Maldini, Dino Zoff and the ultra-cautious Catenaccio formation – but Toon’s Italian full-back Davide Santon secretly covets a St James’ Park striking role.

The classy Italy international has been making waves since taking over from Ryan Taylor as Newcastle’s first-choice left-back in the weeks before the festive fixture frenzy.

Three months after completing a protracted £6million switch from Inter Milan, Santon is now regularly producing the sort of performances which illustrate perfectly why Alan Pardew was so delighted to land the rangey 21-year-old to Tyneside in the dying days of the summer transfer window.

For Newcastle fans still smarting at the departure of Jose Enrique, Santon’s emergence as an attacking full-back has brought back memories of the Spanish Bull’s surging runs from the heart of defence.

While he is yet to fully get to grips with the “aggressive” Premier League, it has not been a bad start for a player given his head by none other than Jose Mourinho.

The Special One was the boss who first saw the defensive potential of Santon and persuaded him to shelve his ambitions to lead the line for the Nerazzurri.

With so many great players ahead of him in the queue for an attacking role, he happily took a step back to further his professional ambitions.

Mourinho liked what he saw and gave him a run of games and the rest.... well, the rest is history.

Despite three years as a defender – he is equally comfortable playing at right or left-back – Santon has not quite lost that lust for goals and glory though. If Pardew fails to land a striker in this transfer window, he will be the first to put his hand up and volunteer.

He said: “Of course I look up to Paolo Maldini as a defender – but I have always liked to attack.

“Until I was 18, I used to play up front.

“It was only when Jose Mourinho asked me to move back into defence I started to play there and moved back into defence.

“He took the decision to do it because the defence was not playing well during that period.

“He was angry – Maxwell was not playing well so he thought he would give me a chance.

“I ended up playing 20 games in a row.

“At first, I have to be honest I did not enjoy it.

“I was only 18 and I had never played there before, I did not know how to play there, but then I got used to it and now it is my position.

“Mourinho taught me a lot. He changed my life by switching my position and my career started when he moved me into defence.

“Would I go back up front? Yes – if the manager asked I would put my hand up. It would be a thrill!”