The Athletic’s George Caulkin, Taylor Payne and Charlotte Robson of the True Faith podcast recently took part in the latest episode of the Pod On The Tyne, during which they discussed a variety of topics with regards to Newcastle United.
When discussing who might be the club’s player of the year for 2020, the subject of Allan Saint-Maximin and his form this season came up. The Magpies signed the player from Nice in 2019 in a deal reportedly worth £16.2m (as per Transfermarkt).
Since the £28.8m-rated star’s arrival on Tyneside, he has made 39 appearances for the club, scoring five goals and providing his teammates with eight assists.
In Caulkin’s view, the 23-year-old Frenchman isn’t deserving of the player of the year award and explained his views. Here is what he had to say:
“You pick him because he’s Newcastle’s one difference-maker; he’s the person that can turn a game from nothing and he is the one that gets you off your seat.
“The downside to that sort of argument is that I think he’s been poor this season – and there may be reasons for that, but I don’t think he’s been great. So it depends what your rationale is. If you’re looking for good consistency, good high-level performances over a long period of time, then I think that sort of rules him out, personally.”
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TIF Thoughts on George Caulkin’s comments regarding Allan Saint-Maximin…
In eight Premier League appearances so far this season, the winger has scored just once, in the game versus Burnley at St. James’ Park (as per Transfermarkt) but perhaps more significantly, his average performance rating in the top-flight currently stands at a somewhat underwhelming 6.94/10.
Saint-Maximin is renowned for his ability to dribble well and play key passes (as per WhoScored) and so you can understand why some may feel he is the player who gets the crowd off of their seats the most. However, in terms of his overall outputs, for example, goals and assists, given his talent, in our view, he could still do more.