Former Premier League striker Dean Windass believes that the new Newcastle owners will want to build the team around Allan Saint-Maximin and hand him a new contract.
Since signing for Newcastle in August 2019 from Nice, Saint-Maximin has scored nine goals and assisted a further 14 for his teammates.
As well as his contribution to the team, the £27m-rated 24-year-old has shown his versatility. Normally a left winger, Saint-Maximin has also featured as a second striker, right-winger and centre-forward for the Magpies.
Ex-professional Dean Windass believes that Saint-Maximin is the best player at Newcastle and PIF will want to build a team around him, telling TIF: “I’m sure the owners will go, I want to build a team around this lad, so we’ll give him a new contract, we’ll give him a wage rise – because they can.
“The manager or whoever it will be will pull him in the office and say these are the players that we want to bring in. We want to build a team around you because the fans love you. You’re our best player at this present time.”
The Magpies are still searching for a new manager following Steve Bruce’s departure from the St James’ Park dugout, with caretaker manager Graeme Jones collecting a point in his first match in charge of the club away to Crystal Palace last weekend.
Sky Sports reported that Jones had been asked to take charge of Newcastle’s next two matches (Crystal Palace and Chelsea) whilst the club conduct their search for a successor to Steve Bruce. Bild (via Express.co.uk) have reported that former Borussia Dortmund manager Lucien Favre is now favourite to take the Newcastle job.