BREAKING: Newcastle Sign Allan Saint-Maximin

Newcastle have officially announced the signing of 22 year-old French winger Allan Saint-Maximin (with a shirtless video). Saint-Maximin joins Newcastle from OGC Nice, where he spent 2 seasons playing various roles, most notably Right Wing.

Allan Saint-Maximin or St. Gucci Max, as writer/podcast host Greg Troxell calls him (listen to CHN Radio, it is a good podcast), has been on Newcastle’s radar almost as long as recent signing Joelinton. The Chronicle Reported interest in ASM all the way back in late May/early June, but it was scoffed at due to the player’s price tag and the fact that Newcastle’s managerial situation was unclear.

Last week the Allan Saint-Maximin to Newcastle rumors began to heat up. Word got out that Newcastle’s unique negotiating tactic of refusing to pay market value for a player was rearing its ugly head again as the club tried to low-ball Nice for the services of the young french winger. This brought things to somewhat of a standstill until Nice got absolutely thrashed by Burnley, in a match where ASM was the only goal scorer and the only good player overall for Nice .

After an impressive performance by ASM against Premier League talent, both the player and Newcastle moved quickly to progress a deal, with Lee Charnley flying out to Nice this past Wednesday to secure a deal for the winger.

The Nice winger is known for his pace, flair, and outstanding dribbling ability. For almost a month now Newcastle fans have been drooling at his most impressive stat: leading all of Europe in Successful Dribbles

While leading all of Europe in successful dribbles is certainly nothing to scoff at, It likely means he attempted more dribbles than anyone in Europe. Mo Diame led the Premier League in successful tackles, but also was a team leader in fouls committed and generally attempted a lot of boneheaded tackles. We could face the same scenario with Saint- Maximin, as it is possible that every incredible bit of skill we see from him could be paired with a couple of frustrating scenarios of over dribbling.

The Nice Winger had decent season under Patrick Viera, where for the first time in his career he was asked play left wing and as a second striker. Saint-Maximin was fine in these positions scoring 6 goals and getting 5 assists, but a lot of the player’s frustrations this past season at Nice were a result of Maximin not playing Right Wing, his preferred position. For context, Saint-Maximin made 40 appearances in the 2017-2018 campaign with only 9 of those appearances not coming from the Right Wing position.

Yesterday it was revealed that ASM had agreed to a 6 year deal with the Magpies, with Newcastle agreeing to pay roughly £16.5 million for his services with bonuses.

Today, ASM was spotted at the training ground for his medical, which led many journalists to speculate that an official announcement of his player was imminent.

Saint- Maximin joins Newcastle with less than a week until the season begins and is expected to be in the squad for tomorrow’s final pres-season friendly against Saint-Etienne, ironically the club where Saint-Maximin’s career began.