Allan Saint-Maximin - Confirms departure

I agree, he's an exciting player to watch. But I'd say on average his productivity and all round attacking contribution is roughly on a par with Adama Traore.

Definitely does not have the discipline and defensive work rate to play under Howe.

He might just produce a bit of a nugget every now and again.
This. Not sure why people want him here, at any price.
 
If the reports are accurate, he's getting shafted. €12m a year to go to Saudi Arabia as a 26-year old crowd pleaser, while semi-retired defenders/defensive midfielders rake in 2-3 times that amount. Should take a hard look at his agent.
 
He's a weird player. He gets unfairly lumped with Adama type players, but he's a lot more refined and technically proficient than him. He's always incredibly dangerous when he plays and creates a lot of chances or causes chaos. He just somehow doesn't end up with the numbers to back it up.

Normally I'd be questioning Howe for letting him go but you can't argue with the results he's had through the system he employs. He's turned Joelinton into a good CM, Dan Burn is the most awkward looking left back but he just works. He seems to have a grip on things Eddie Howe. Going from him to Harvey Barnes seems a downgrade to me, but obviously Howe thinks he will suit their system better.

ASM would probably work well for us due to our reliance on playing on the counter and individuality. We're not as aggressive as Newcastle, or as possession orientated, which is probably where ASM falls short. If we were to sell Sancho then he'd be a good buy for us, especially at that price.
I agree. Even if we don't buy him (which we won't) I'd be a lot happier to be facing a Newcastle side without him rather than with him. Dangerous player, just very injury prone.
 
ASM has zero end product. No thanks. Dribbling without actually contributing goals, assists or creating chances just ends up losing the ball more often than not. Nowehere near good enough to be playing for Utd which is why he's being moved on from Newcastle for £25m
 
If the reports are accurate, he's getting shafted. €12m a year to go to Saudi Arabia as a 26-year old crowd pleaser, while semi-retired defenders/defensive midfielders rake in 2-3 times that amount. Should take a hard look at his agent.
Football doesn't look for entertainers any more. He's arguably the best dribbler in the PL but he's so wasteful and makes so many errors + he's hardly an amazing defensive wide attacker. I doubt he has that many options to be honest.
 
Was one of our few sellable assets and definitely the one that didn't mesh best with Howe's system. Barnes will be a much bigger goal threat down the left. Will miss him though, very exciting player to watch on his day, even if that day didn't come around too often.
 
This is absolutely ridiculous if it’s allowed
It happened for years in Spain - the government having financial interests in Madrid. I'm sure they bought Madrid's training ground for a crazy fee then resold it them for a lower price in the gallitico era.
 
Thank feck for that - he used to step it up against us, give our fullbacks nightmares and then feck off back into obscurity for the rest of the season.
 
ASM has zero end product. No thanks. Dribbling without actually contributing goals, assists or creating chances just ends up losing the ball more often than not. Nowehere near good enough to be playing for Utd which is why he's being moved on from Newcastle for £25m
We paid between £80-£85m last summer for a guy who does far less of all the highlighted than ASM.
 
Such a massive talent, why does he want to go there at such an age, 26?!
 
Such a massive talent, why does he want to go there at such an age, 26?!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ is the answer, ASM is a talented player but football is about systems these days, you have to press and be press resistant and that's not his game, he's never going to play for a top-level team because of it and he probably knows it
 
Saint-Maximim scored 1 (one) goal last season, in 31 games.

One goal.
Just checked his stats and he really didn't play as many minutes as "31 games" would suggest. A lot of small appearances.

Despite last year being quite poor by his standards, his underlying stats were far better than Anto. V's other wingers/attacking mids, St Maximin was in the 96th percentile for both assists and expected assists, 88th percentile for progressive passes, 99th percentile for progressive carries, 99th percentile for successful take ons. Really impressive, especially given that he is often double marked. Antony's stats were frankly embarrassing. Not just by comparison to ASM, I mean in general.

I stand by my previous post. I'd swap Antony for him in a heartbeat, despite ASM's atrocious injury record.
 
Always loved watching him. Comparing him to the likes of Adama is unfair in my opinion, he's a much better player.

I'd much rather him than Sancho on current evidence.
 
One of my favourite players in the league. When he picks up the ball nobody knows what's going to happen next, including him much of the time! Makes for an exciting watch though, super dribbler.
 
Tempted to play FM just to form a team consisting of: Maximin, Adama and Wout Weghorst up front. Will probably score 5 goals in 40 games.
 
One of my favourite players in the league. When he picks up the ball nobody knows what's going to happen next, including him much of the time! Makes for an exciting watch though, super dribbler.
Yes we do, nothing.
 
It happened for years in Spain - the government having financial interests in Madrid. I'm sure they bought Madrid's training ground for a crazy fee then resold it them for a lower price in the gallitico era.
I love that this myth still exists or is being perpetrated.
 
It happened for years in Spain - the government having financial interests in Madrid. I'm sure they bought Madrid's training ground for a crazy fee then resold it them for a lower price in the gallitico era.

This is a myth and it never actually happened.

There was a land swap and other land was simply sold to them by the council on the cheap, then it was rezoned a few years later, so it's value went way up, then some got sold back to the council and to other companies. Magically clearing all their debt. No corruption involved, no forms of illegal state aid and definitely no helping hand delivered along the way by the CEO one of the biggest construction companies in Spain ACS, who, also just by a massive coincidence happened to be the president of Real as well.

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/04/the-evil-empire-of-florentino-perez


Yet probably the most controversial deal Pérez was involved in as chairman was the sale of Real Madrid’s training ground as a site for the city’s new financial district in 2001. It was a win-win scenario for Pérez: he would clear the clubs burgeoning debts with its €500 million cut from the deal while ACS would, in turn, receive its share of the huge construction contracts for the project.
 
Just checked his stats and he really didn't play as many minutes as "31 games" would suggest. A lot of small appearances.

Despite last year being quite poor by his standards, his underlying stats were far better than Anto. V's other wingers/attacking mids, St Maximin was in the 96th percentile for both assists and expected assists, 88th percentile for progressive passes, 99th percentile for progressive carries, 99th percentile for successful take ons. Really impressive, especially given that he is often double marked. Antony's stats were frankly embarrassing. Not just by comparison to ASM, I mean in general.

I stand by my previous post. I'd swap Antony for him in a heartbeat, despite ASM's atrocious injury record.
Wonder why he didn't play many minutes?

I know he picked up a few injuries but he was a bit part player when fit for a reason.
Four goals less and only three more assists than Antony.
One players new to the league, one player has been here in an under performing team for several seasons.
 
Wonder why he didn't play many minutes?

I know he picked up a few injuries but he was a bit part player when fit for a reason.
Four goals less and only three more assists than Antony.
One players new to the league, one player has been here in an under performing team for several seasons.

Because he lacks discipline and offers nothing in terms of defensive work rate. Which is a big part of the game for Howe at Newcastle, it has been key to their rise up the table.
 
Because he lacks discipline and offers nothing in terms of defensive work rate. Which is a big part of the game for Howe at Newcastle, it has been key to their rise up the table.
Agreed.

And very little going forward in terms of end product.
 
I hate selling him, he had a tough year with injuries but he was mostly really good when he played regularly. He's not an obvious fit for Howe but I believe Howe knew that he could be special when everything clicks and be a real game changer. ASM also really tried to change his game last season and you could see the results in much improved assists, key passes and expected assists stats per 90. His performance against Man City and Walker at home was one of the best I've ever seen from a winger, shame the constant muscle injuries ruined his season.

We are walking a tight rope with FFP and he was the only Ashley-era player that could be sold for significant money which we seem to need to strengthen the squad elsewhere. I really hope he was just a victim of FFP and Howe didn't want to give up on him yet. Sad the destination is SA as he's a player I love to watch and I can't see myself watching him in that league.

As for Barnes, he has the end product numbers but some of the underlying stats are really underwhelming. Hope he's a hit but it's not that easy to get excited about a winger who struggles to go past fullbacks and has really poor assist stats. Almiron is similar and we don't have much flair now in the flanks and have to rely on the system to create.
 
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66347973

Allan Saint-Maximin confirms Newcastle departure before expected Saud Arabia move

French winger Allan Saint-Maximin has confirmed he is leaving Newcastle United, saying his "greatest trophy" was playing for the club.

Saint-Maximin, 26, is expected to join Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League, run by the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF) - which also owns Newcastle.

He scored 13 goals in 124 games after joining in August 2019 from Nice.

"Even though this chapter has ended, the story never stops. Newcastle is home now," he said.

"I'll continue to be your biggest supporter."