Frank McAvennie recently spoke about Allan Saint-Maximin’s future at Newcastle United, insisting the Magpies would be desperate to keep the 25-year-old amid interest from Arsenal.
He told Football Insider: “I don’t think he’d leave. I think he would want to be part of (Eddie Howe’s project). He was the shining light (last season). That’s one player they would want to keep.”
But with the uncapped Frenchman scoring just one goal and making two assists in 2022, was Saint-Maximin that influential under Howe? He scored fewer times than Chris Wood since the turn of the year, so McAvennie might be overselling his importance.
Saint-Maximin wants a new deal at Newcastle, as he’s leveraging the transfer rumours to land himself a more lucrative contract, but does Howe actually need him next season?
The 25-year-old scored five goals and made five assists in 2021/22. That made him Newcastle’s second-highest scorer and top assist-maker, but those are still lowly numbers over a 38-game season. Saint-Maximin fared even worse the year before, scoring three goals with four assists from 25 Premier League games in 2020/21, so his output is consistently poor.
- 2019/20: 26 PL games, 3 goals, 5 assists
- 2020/21: 25 PL games, 3 goals, 4 assists
- 2021/22: 35 PL games, 5 goals, 5 assists
That’s 11 goals and 14 assists from 86 games – 1 goal/assist every 3.4 games. If Newcastle receive a bid close to the £50m they’re requesting, they should accept it.
In other news, Noel Whelan says Newcastle were ‘shambolic’ when Howe arrived
