Demba Ba (R)
Demba Ba's goalscoring suffered following the arrival of Papiss Cisse, but, at £7 million, he will still be seen as a bargain by many Premier League clubs. Reuters

Demba Ba and Jonas Gutierrez believe that the two signings who will make a great deal of difference to the Newcastle squad this season will be Davide Santon and Papiss Demba Cisse, with the pair being touted as perfect replacements for the departed Andy Carroll and Jose Enrique.

Both Carroll and Enrique made the move to Liverpool, with the former leaving on deadline day in January 2011, and the latter exiting the Toon last summer.

But while many pundits would have predicted Liverpool to be placed well ahead of Newcastle in the Premier League table right now, the north eastern side are currently just one point off fourth placed Chelsea, while the Reds sit at seventh.

Santon made the move from Inter Milan to Newcastle close to deadline day in the summer, and in his debut season filling the left back position has so far impressed both the manager and fans alike.

And Gutierrez believes that the 21 year old will emulate Enrique's success at Newcastle as he continues to improve at St James' Park.

"He loves to get forward. He sometimes has to know the moment to go and the moment to stay back," he told the Journal.

"But he is young, he will learn that. Sometimes he can go, sometimes he should stay. He's so young, has too much energy and maybe he just wants to show what he can do.

"For me, that is incredible. With an offensive player you just have to give him the ball and he will do the rest. He has amazing ability.

"He is only really, young. The Premier League is very tough - it takes a long time for you to get ready for it. But he has made a very good start."

Demba Ba, who himself is in his debut season for Newcastle, believes that new January signing Papiss Demba Cisse will fill the number nine shirt well, which was left unworn by Carroll's departure for almost a year.

"It was a great signing. I was very happy when he signed. Newcastle supporters have seen how good he is, it was a goal of real class," he said.

"He is right-footed but he showed it does not matter if the ball comes to him on his left or on his right, he is going to hit it.

"I told him to sign, but I did not tell him everything about how the club is. He has not seen anything yet.

"However, he is a very quiet guy. All the fuss and hype will not affect him."