The noise around an Allan Saint-Maximin move to the Saudi Pro League refuses to go away, even though Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said yesterday that he "loves" our mercurial French winger.
Saint-Maximin scored and was a constant menace to the Gateshead defence in Newcastle's first pre-season game of the 2023/24 campaign, which ended in a 3-2 away win for Howe's side at the International Stadium. However, away from the pitch, things are picking up steam regarding a Saudi Arabia move for Maxi.
After some general murmurings during the summer, Qatar-based Alkass Sports yesterday put out this Tweet in Arabic:
Crediting their own sources, Alkass stated that "the management of the Saudi club Al Ahli is in negotiations with the English club Newcastle United in order to win the services of French forward Allan Saint-Maximin during the current summer transfer period."
talkSPORT then put out this Tweet this morning:
talkSPORT could just be regurgitating Alkass' original report, of course. Still, when they credit their sources, it typically means their own journalists have been on the case and doing some digging.
Either way, both Tweets build on the story we wrote last week based on Luke Edwards' reporting about Saint-Maximin being the subject of interest from Saudi Arabian and European clubs. Edwards claimed that interest in Saint-Maximin had "firmed up" last weekend, with a fee of between £40 million and £50 million mooted.
It definitely seems like things are picking up pace now and with the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Fabinho, and Jordan Henderson all on the verge of joining Cristiano Ronaldo and company in Saudi Arabia, Maxi seems like the most obvious NUFC candidate for a move to the Pro League.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
12 | 16 | 31 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
12 | 5 | 23 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
5 |
Brighton
|
12 | 5 | 22 |
6 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
12 | 14 | 19 |
7 |
Nottingham Forest
|
12 | 2 | 19 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
12 | 0 | 19 |
9 |
Fulham
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
11 |
Brentford
|
12 | 0 | 17 |
12 |
Manchester United
|
12 | 0 | 16 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
12 | -1 | 15 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
12 | -4 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
12 | -7 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
12 | -8 | 10 |
17 |
Wolves
|
12 | -8 | 9 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
12 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Crystal Palace
|
12 | -7 | 8 |
20 |
Southampton
|
12 | -15 | 4 |