Newcastle United defender Davide Santon is set to join former club Inter Milan on loan until the end of the season.
Sources told ESPN FC on Sunday that Santon was set to fly out to Italy on Monday for a medical before finalising his six-month loan to the San Siro, and the defender confirmed on his Facebook page on Monday morning that he was set to return.
Post by Davide Santon.
The 24-year-old joined Newcastle in 2011 from Inter and was the club's first-choice left-back for his first two seasons.
However, Santon has found his first-team chances limited this season due to form and fitness, with last month's FA Cup defeat to Leicester his only appearance in the campaign.
Newcastle are willing to let Santon go feeling they have enough cover at left-back with Paul Dummett and Massadio Haidara ahead of the Italian in the pecking order.
Piero Ausilio, Inter's sporting director, had indicated to Sky Sport Italia that the club hoped for a busy deadline day.
"We still have something to do, but we know what restrictions we have too," Ausilio said. "We can't just choose anybody without considering our budget while, at the same time, we want to find somebody who can give us added value in the future. We're not interested in doing something just for the sake of it."
Inter have already signed Lukas Podolski, Xherdan Shaqiri and Marcelo Brozovic this winter, and Ausilio said that meant any deal for Antonio Cassano is unlikely.
Cassano, who wore an Inter shirt in the 2012-13 season, is a free agent after leaving Parma last week out of protest at not being paid a salary for seven months. The 32-year-old has been linked with several Serie A clubs, including Inter, but that move is now unlikely to materialise.
"We don't need to do anything up front, regardless of what has happened with [Pablo Daniel] Osvaldo," he said, referring to the club's decision to cancel the Argentine striker's season-long loan from Southampton.
"We rate Cassano, but we just don't believe he can be of any use to us. We're not going to sign another attacker."
Inter boss Roberto Mancini also dismissed speculation about Cassano.
"We don't need him," Mancini said at a news conference. "We've got to focus on other positions before we thing about the attack."