Some Newcastle United fans have been debating the talents of former hero Ayoze Perez and current Magpies star Allan Saint-Maximin on social media.
Perez spent five years on Tyneside between 2014 and 2019, having moved to the North East of England from boyhood club CD Tenerife and remained at St. James’ Park until Leicester City triggered a £30million clause in his contract.
Saint-Maximin would arrive at United a month later after the club agreed a £20m package with Ligue 1 outfit OGC Nice, and has proven himself to be the star of the show under head coach Steve Bruce.
The Magpies lacked the same sort of attacking dynamic over the festive period whilst the forward was sidelined through a hamstring injury, with Bruce only able to win once in the league without the 22-year-old.
Saint-Maxim’s tricky footwork and blistering speed wreaks havoc for opposing defenders, as was very much the case last time out against Arsenal despite losing 4-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
He came mightily close to finding the back of Bernd Leno’s net, too, when his shot from outside the box crashed back off the post, leaving Saint-Maximin with just one Premier League goal to his name.
Who is the better player?
Saint-Maximin
Ayoze Perez
Perez has not struggled in front of the net for the Foxes, with Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers seeing his summer signing score seven times in 23 league games.
The Spaniard scored 48 times in 195 appearances for Newcastle across all competitions, with his best league campaign being the 2018/19 term when he fired home 12 goals in 37 outings as a hero of Rafa Benitez’s frontline.
Outside of goals, official Premier League stats show Perez has created more with four assists to Saint-Maximin’s one, has taken more shots (33 to 26), more shots on target (17 to 12), made more passes (533 to 212), completed more passes (79.36% to 76.89%) and made more forward passes (140 to 49).
The pair have also missed three big chances each, while Saint-Maximin has delivered more crosses (28 to 24) and been dispossessed fewer times (28 to 49).
Here are some of the messages shared as fans debated Perez and Saint-Maximin…
Perez was my integral to the way Rafa played…defending from the front…not really a fair comparison between the two but ASM scores fewer and is more injury prone?
— Howard Smith (@jackslad2000) February 21, 2020
I get what you are saying if we was going to compare Saint Maximin to any of our former players it would be Ben Arfa or Ben Afra as Joe Kinnear would say
— Liam ⚫️⚪️ (@LiamNUFC1998) February 20, 2020
Pérez all day!! End product on ASM is shocking (but may get better)
— Cinzano Bianco (@cinzanobianco) February 21, 2020
Play totally different roles. Miggy or Perez might be a better comparison. Right now, I think Perez would be contribute more of what we need – goals.
— Kev H (@DeKuip02) February 21, 2020
you can’t vote against perez be honest
— Joe Wright (@JoeWriighttt) February 20, 2020
Not really comparable.
— NotSoLocalHero (@NotSoLocalHero) February 20, 2020
A kna it’s easy to say looking back when he doesn’t play for us anymore but I was never actually the biggest fan of Perez tbh. Obviously supported him when he played for us but never thought he was *that* good
— Leazes Mags (@LeazesMags) February 20, 2020
In other Newcastle United news, the club have reportedly finalised deals with a £24m duo pending official confirmation.