Santon's fiancée: "Davide...was pushed out"

Prior to the official announcement that Newcastle United had loaned out defender Davide Santon to his former club Inter Milan, his fiancée took to Twitter to blast the club for the move:

[Screenshots via @dwright75]

Often after a transfer, the club and player will engage in a public relations race to save face with the fans. If the club can legitimately claim that the player was unhappy, how can the supporters blame them? It works the same in the other direction. We've seen it play out this way after virtually every departure in the Mike Ashley era - player is sold/loaned, then claims to be pushed out.

Acknowledging that doesn't mean that Santon's fiancée is lying; on the contrary, the overwhelming mountain of evidence suggests that she is right, and Santon is simply another casualty of the Newcastle United machine. Nothing she suggests is new. Mike Ashley is indeed in it for the £££, after all. That doesn't make suck any less for the players and families that this business model affects, and this is why a cold and calculated policy will eventually suck the soul out of this club. Ultimately, the business of buying and selling players is a human one, and there are already plenty of players who scoff at the idea of playing for a team that doesn't recognize that. Here is a player that reportedly wants to play for Newcastle (a defender, at that!), but has been left out in the cold.

It's not new, and it's not a surprise, but it's still depressing.