Earlier this week, Allan Saint-Maximin sat down for an interview with So Foot, where he spoke about his Newcastle teammates.
The French news outlet quote the £16m man as saying he would have more assists if his teammates were better in front of goal.
They wrote: “The day when I have a player capable of finishing the actions, I will make seasons with ten to 15 assists, and I will change dimension in people’s heads.”
Now, however, Saint-Maximin has taken it upon himself to go and speak to Eddie Howe in his office, as he claims he never said those words.
What’s the story?
Well, So Foot have either got the wrong end of the stick, or the interview has been lost in translation when being transcribed from French to English.
Nevertheless, Saint-Maximin was not happy about it, and went to speak to Howe in an attempt to plead his innocence.
The Magpies boss told Sky Sports earlier today: “You’ll probably need to ask him what he meant, but I don’t think it was a criticism of his teammates. I accepted & was happy with his explanation. In no way did he mean to damage the unity we’ve built. We’ll be speaking to the squad to make sure there’s no fall out.”
It’s good to see the Frenchman address this issue himself, as – if he let it fester – his teammates might not have been too pleased with him.
Howe and Saint-Maximin clearly have a strong relationship, with the entertaining winger even admitting he loves the 44-year-old.
Clearly, Howe trusts his No.10, and doesn’t believe there was any malice behind his comments to So Foot, which should strengthen the relationship between the pair.
Newcastle need more from Allan Saint-Maximin
In our view, Howe needs to put his shoulder around Saint-Maximin on the training ground and drill some more directness into him.
As we saw recently when the 25-year-old took on Cheikhou Kouyate, he has a tendency to use his ability the wrong way, by doing ultimately ineffective things.
Saint-Maximin – who thinks he’s become slower – only has five goals and four assists in 34 appearances this season, which isn’t good enough for a player of his talent.
Of course, he’s a crowdpleaser, and gets the St James’ Park faithful up from their seats on a regular basis.
However, if Saint-Maximin is to kick on in his footballing career, he needs to become more ruthless and efficient in front of goal.
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