Newcastle's left-back has experienced Milan derbies but he is expecting the Tyne-Wear version to be something else

Davide Santon is discussing the devotion to detail shared by José Mourinho and Alan Pardew when he realises that even Newcastle United's meticulous manager may not have catered for one particular contingency.

"If I score a goal against Sunderland Alan Pardew will have to substitute me straight away," he says, straight-faced. "I will just want to carry on celebrating, to run out of the ground and into the street. It would be the perfect moment for me."

Considering that the former Internazionale full-back is yet to score in senior football it may seem an unlikely scenario but derbies have a habit of turning into sunny days for the likeable 21-year-old.

Santon approaches Sunday's Tyne-Wear duel at St James' Park with the confidence befitting a man whose record against Milan during his San Siro days reads played three, won three.

Particularly memorable was the game three years ago when he fully eclipsed David Beckham, then on loan at Milan from LA Galaxy. "Bellissimo," he says, smiling at the memory. "They were beautiful occasions, special games and some of the best I played in. Of course, it made all the difference that we won all of them. Perhaps that is why I love derbies so much. They've made me very happy.

"I cannot compare Newcastle v Sunderland until after I've played in it but everyone here has been telling me just what it means. There are 90,000 fans at San Siro but they tell me it will be even noisier here."

He is certainly not about to repeat Ruud Gullit's famous mistake of 1999 when the then Newcastle manager claimed, sneeringly, that likening England's north‑east derby to its Milanese equivalent spells sacrilege.

Santon has been made well aware that, within days of dropping Alan Shearer and losing to Sunderland at St James', Gullit apologised for "massively underestimating" the match's significance before resigning. "Don't worry, I realise how important it is for Newcastle to win. Sunderland is as big a game as Manchester United."

In January, Newcastle beat Sir Alex Ferguson's champions 3-0 on Tyneside. "Hopefully history can repeat itself," says Santon, speaking through an interpreter. "As a team we were really up for Manchester United, our mentality was right and we played our best game of the season."

He is gradually recapturing the optimal form that, when he was a teenager, led both Mourinho and Marcello Lippi to liken him to a young Paolo Maldini. While Mourinho spoke glowingly of Santon's "interesting, intelligent personality" and "tactically versatile, highly technical football ability" an unusually complimentary Cristiano Ronaldo offered the then 18-year-old his shirt following Santon's Champions League debut in a home draw against Manchester United.

"The game against Ronaldo was really strange, even now I can't really believe it happened," he says. "Five months earlier I'd been playing against Ronaldo on PlayStation and then, suddenly, I was doing well against him on the pitch. He asked me for my shirt and told everyone how good I was. I couldn't quite believe it when he came over for the shirt, it took a moment to sink in."

He giggles at the memory. In an instant, the charming, poised young man sitting across the table swaddled in an Italian designer quilted jacket seems transported back to childhood.

By the time he marked Ronaldo he was already a firm favourite of the Special One. "José Mourinho was the one who discovered me, the one who had faith in me, the one who converted me from a right-winger, the one who pushed me forward and I will always owe him for that," Santon says.

Basking in the warm glow of such patronage he thrived in both full-back positions, swiftly accruing the first of seven full Italy caps and a Serie A winner's medal. Then injury intruded. An abrupt reminder that the Azzurri's latest rising star was mortal after all meant that Santon spent much of the 2009-10 season on the sidelines after undergoing two operations to repair cartilage damage to his right knee.

Although the scars left by his surgeon were superficially small and neat, the internal cuts ran much deeper, the knee took time to settle and the psychological damage inflicted by the initial surgery failing proved tougher than expected. "It was a difficult time," he says. "A frustrating time but I'm fine now."

Once he was ready to resume his Inter career properly Mourinho had joined Real Madrid, Rafael Benítez's brief tenure was under way, poisonous personality clashes festered in the dressing room and, confidence ebbing, Santon found himself loaned to Cesena. With Inter unable to offer anything more than a bit-part role, last summer's £5m move to Newcastle came as a welcome release.

When Santon's first day of training concluded with a badly swollen knee and a trip to a consultant the portents looked gloomy but, happily, it proved a minor scare. Even so, it was October before a defender who sat out Newcastle's 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light in August made his first-team debut. "I'm really grateful the manager allowed me time to settle in, to adjust, to learn how the team worked," he says. "I wasn't impatient, those first few quiet weeks really helped me."

Since then Santon has demonstrated precisely how effective right-footed left-backs can be, augmenting his evident defensive class with sometimes brilliant control and distribution in addition to searing pace on the overlap.

Like that of the France midfielder Yohan Cabaye, his recruitment can be seen as a statement of Pardew's intention to construct a technically accomplished team capable of challenging regularly for Europe.

As Mourinho mentioned in a recent interview, the Tyneside air certainly seems to be reviving Santon's career. "I was very happy when I heard that José had said I was playing well again here," he says beaming. "My dream now is to return to San Siro."

Not, he hastens to add, by rejoining Inter but with sixth-placed Newcastle in the Champions League. "It will be very difficult to qualify this season but it's possible. When I first joined, no one thought we could be in such a high position but it did not take me long to realise there are many good players here and, like Mourinho, Alan Pardew is a very thorough manager who prepares you very well for games. I think we can get into the Europa League this season. Then who knows? I can't wait to play for Newcastle at San Siro and win."

In the meantime the boy from Portomaggiore, 50 miles south of Venice, who arrived unable to speak a word of English is making impressive strides in learning the language and has become a regular visitor to Newcastle University where he also enjoys a game of badminton. "I'm terrible at it though," Santon says.

By way of compensation his new English friends are taken, frequently, to the city's assorted Italian restaurants, with the Sardinian cooking at Adriano's in Gosforth a firm favourite.

Lately he has detected a distinct change in the local atmosphere. "Everywhere you go, everyone's talking about the derby," he says. "They tell me we have to beat Sunderland. I've been told it will be an absolutely fantastic experience but I know I'll have to keep my emotions in control. The most important thing is to stay calm."

Unless, of course, he scores.