Natural attacking instincts and great control have made him a massive favourite since he was snapped up by ex-Toon manager Kenny Dalglish in 1998 from Boca Juniors for a fee of £2.5million.

An absolute hero in his homeland, he has established himself as a key part of the Peruvian national side.

But it his involvement with Peru that has caused much controversy in the north east. The player was initially registered as an EU player due to his Greek passport. The player was then implicated in the fake passports scandal and the Magpies re-registered him as a non-EU player.

Also, Solano's willingness to play for Peru in World Cup qualifiers meant that he was missing important games for Newcastle and also beginning to look jaded when he did play due to the excessive travelling.

Solano was said to have promised to retire from internationals, only to play in qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup. It was rumoured that Sir Bobby Robson was ready to off-load the star until the ironed out their differences and Solano agree to concentrate on Newcastle... for the time being.

In June 2001 he signed a new contract to keep him at St James' for five more years.