Newcastle United’s Allan Saint-Maximin has been a shining light in the club’s difficult season.
Signed in a £16.5 million deal from Nice last summer, his superb dribbling and incredible technical skill has captured the attention of the Magpies faithful.
Newcastle have, of course, been waiting on tenterhooks for their proposed takeover from the Saudi Arabian-backed Public Investment Fund to go through.
In the meantime, though, Steve Bruce’s side have climbed away from Premier League danger.
They may have lost 5-0 to Manchester City on Wednesday but since the resumption of proceedings, they have thumped Sheffield United and AFC Bournemouth and drawn with both Aston Villa and West Ham United.
Newcastle currently sit 13th in the Premier League table, 16 points clear of 18th-placed Aston Villa ahead of their clash with Manchester United on Thursday.
Saint-Maximin has been central to that, scoring against the Blades and also providing a hat-trick of assists in the 4-1 win over Bournemouth.
It has led to intense speculation over his future as the summer transfer window looms – both PSG and Tottenham Hotspur have been credited with an interest.
And his agent has now thrown another fly into the ointment by insisting that his client will want to be playing Champions League football in the near future.
Asked about the prospect of a move to Napoli, in Serie A, Kurtys Saint-Maximin, who is also Allan’s brother as well as his representative, said he had not had any contact with the Italian club, per Calcio Napoli via Sport Witness.
And, while he says that it is perhaps too early to make any concrete claims about his future, he added: “If he likes the Neapolitan team? Of course he likes Naples, it is a great club like Juventus, Inter and Milan are in Italy as well.
“I still don’t know his future, it is too early to talk about it but surely he will want to play as a starting player and participate in the Champions League.”
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
That pesky takeover.
One has to think that everything is linked to whether or not Mike Ashley is unseated as the club’s owner.
If the PIF do manage to wrestle control away from the Sports Direct magnate, they could well be able to convince Saint-Maximin to stay.
While they will have huge funds available to them, they will also be able to target Champions League football, and they could make the Frenchman a cornerstone of their project.
If it fails, though, one has to imagine that Saint-Maximin could be looking elsewhere.
He has proved how good he is; he doesn’t need to spin his wheels at a mid-table club.