Could an Allan Saint-Maximin sale fund the arrival of Sandro Tonali?

Jacob Whitehead of The Athletic shared some interesting information about the potential sale of Allan Saint-Maximin this summer in order for Newcastle to raise some funds, potentially helping the club in landing higher-profile players such as Milan’s Sandro Tonali.

Asked about how likely it is to expect ASM to get sold in the next few weeks, Whitehead said that “at the moment, ‘likely’ is too strong a word.”

According to his information, Whitehead wrote that Newcastle’s coaching staff believes that Saint-Maximin is “both their most saleable asset and does not fit into Eddie Howe’s style as much as other players.”

It’s very obvious that ASM would be the player in the Magpies ranks that could bring the largest fee among all realistically available and dangled in the market, with (perhaps) only Miguel Almiron approaching his talents and levels of availability.

If Newcastle want to keep strengthening their squad they will inevitably have to sell some players to stay within the Financial Fair Play boundaries, so it’s reasonable to see Saint-Maximin hitting the rumor mill as a potential sale candidate.

An interesting point raised by Whitehead, though, is that Newcastle will be facing stout defenses next season that will be willing to ditch anything offense while sitting deep. Whitehead revealed that “Newcastle’s hierarchy knows the Frenchman offers a completely different profile for unlocking such defenses,” and thus there is “no active desire to sell at Newcastle’s end,” adding that in any case the club “will listen to offers.”

Both Milan clubs have shown interest in ASM in previous windows, and now that Newcastle has submitted a bid for AC Milan’s Sandro Tonali a trade might actually make a lot of sense for both clubs to pursue during the next few weeks. We’ll see how and where all of this ends, but it’s fair to assume some exploratory talks will be held next.

Even then, don’t get overly hyped or excited as Whitehead reported on Wednesday morning that “as of yet, it is thought that there have been no concrete approaches for the winger.”