Despite only being at the club since the beginning of the season, sensation Allan Saint-Maximin is already being rumoured away from the club.
Reports have suggested that if Adama Traore is to be sold by Wolves in the summer, then they could look to replace him with the tricky Frenchman.
Signed for just £16m in the summer, Saint-Maximin has a long, six-year contract to stay at St James’ Park, so that means that they the mandate to ask for a whole lot more than what they paid for him in the summer.
While the former Nice player’s numbers haven’t exactly been inspiring, he’s managed to look like one of Newcastle’s only few threats this season and has always wanted to get on the ball and run at players.
Will ASM be at St. James' Park next season?
Yes
No
In fact, apart from Adama Traore, only Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha averages more dribbles per game than he does (4.6), so if Nuno Espirito Santo is looking for a like-for-like replacement you can understand why he would target him.
As WhoScored states, the player has scored just the one goal all season, with as many assists, but he has only played 16 league games this season.
To make things worse for fans, former England and Sunderland centre forward Darren Bent has come out and said that he would be a great fit for the club, and even thinks that they should go after him even if Saint-Maximin does not leave the club.
While speaking to Football Insider, Bent said:“He would fit in really well at Wolves, can you imagine Saint-Maximin on one wing and Adama Traore on the other?
“That is out-and-out pace, power, everything. He would be a good signing. I like what Nuno’s doing, he understands that they’ve got a good squad but they can still be better.
“They’ve got a lot of games, they’ve got the Europa League, they’ve got league games, so I think it would be a great addition for them.”
With Bent being a former Mackem, fans are unlikely to be pleased with his message.
Whether Wolves have enough clout to take Saint-Maximum off their hands so soon after he was bought remains to be seen. It is likely that it will depend on whether Nuno’s team can reach the top four or the Europa League again, and also whether or not Newcastle can kick on and show some promise going into the next season.