Allan Saint-Maximin transfer latest amid Newcastle United exit speculation

Shields Gazette

Joe Buck brings you the very latest on Allan Saint-Maximin's future. The Frenchman has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli - but should the Magpies sell and what could a sale mean for their future transfer business?

Transcript

00:00 Hello, it's Joe Buck here with all the latest Newcastle United transfer news for the Shields

00:05 Gazette. Now this summer so far has been dominated with incomings at Newcastle, you know who's

00:09 going to join, but the man getting all the headlines recently is Alan St-Maximin. Now

00:14 he looks set to depart Newcastle for Sadie Rebien Club, Al Ali, in a deal worth about

00:19 £20 million. Now that might seem low to support, as I think everyone was probably expecting,

00:24 you know north of £30 million certainly for St-Maximin, but that, you know, the £20 million

00:28 fee that's been discussed does include bonuses, or sorry doesn't include bonuses, bonuses

00:33 will be on top of that. So, you know, that fee could rise and it would be a shame to

00:38 see St-Maximin leave as expected. He's been, you know, a shining light for the last four

00:43 years and Newcastle are someone that, you know, everyone loves watching. They're certainly

00:46 one of the most exciting players in the Premier League in total, to be honest, but football,

00:52 life of football, especially in the modern world, players move on and Newcastle fans

00:56 probably have to start getting used to that, you know, some of their players will move

00:58 on. St-Maximin unfortunately just seems to be the casualty right now of being someone

01:04 that they can sell for, you know, £20 million, still not a fee to be sniffed at, that will

01:07 allow them to do a lot in the transfer market, financial fair play, but he's also someone

01:11 who they probably won't miss too much in terms of goals and assist contributions. Obviously

01:15 they'll miss his spark and, you know, his work on the ball, but I think if it was a

01:20 choice between Harvey Barnes, for example, and St-Maximin, it's clear that Harvey Barnes

01:24 is probably the likely option. It would be a shame, you know, St-Maximin's been brilliant

01:28 over the last few years, but unfortunately for him, he does hit that little bit of a

01:32 sweet spot and if a club come calling, they're going to offer, you know, north of £20 million

01:36 and pay his wages, it's something that Newcastle are going to have to consider. We've seen

01:41 their struggles to get rid of some of their other players, you know, on Premier League

01:44 wages who maybe might have to drop down the championship or certainly lower in Premier

01:47 League clubs, probably can't afford to pay, so St-Maximin, with an offer from St-Maximin,

01:51 the club have got to accept it and I think it's one that is probably the right time right

01:55 now. It means they can get some of their other players in, they can get, you know, looked

01:59 at other targets with the fee they're going to get and amortisation means, you know, they'd

02:04 probably do a little bit more business by selling St-Maximin than they would be able

02:07 to alternatively. So, as mentioned, it would be a massive shame to see him leave, but it's

02:11 probably the right decision for Newcastle right now to sell St-Maximin to Ali and, you

02:16 know, he certainly won't be the last Newcastle United player to leave this summer and, you

02:20 know, incomings are expected and outgoings, so it's going to be a busy few weeks at Newcastle

02:26 before the season starts and then once the season starts, the transfer window shuts on

02:30 September 1st, so plenty of transfer news and updates to come and the best way to stay

02:34 up to date with all of that is, of course, with the Shoe-N-Gazette.

02:37 (laughs)

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