Journalist Dean Jones has appeared to confirm that Allan Saint-Maximin won’t play for Newcastle United on Saturday.
Over the international break, Eddie Howe has been dealt with some serious injury issues, with Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Chris Wood all picking up knocks while away with their respective countries.
This is on top of Callum Wilson – who is seemingly set to return – having not kicked a ball since August and therefore unlikely to be 100% fit. Meanwhile, Saint-Maximin is not thought to be ready to play, despite recently showing off a new celebration on Instagram for fans to see.
Speaking on the Chasing Green Arrows YouTube channel on Monday, Jones dropped the damning news about Saint-Maximin and how his injury problems are yet to disappear.
He said: “Allan Saint-Maximin – out of that fixture [vs Fulham], he’s still recovering from a hamstring injury.”
Will NUFC miss Saint-Maximin on Saturday?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Saint-Maximin’s absence…
With Isak also confirmed to be out for several weeks and Guimaraes’s injury yet to be disclosed, being without Saint-Maximin – their top creator when it comes to both shot and goal-creating actions (FBref) – will be a major blow, as he is the one player who can be ‘quality’ in the final third, as former defender Jose Enrique pointed out (via The Chronicle) earlier this season.
Eddie Howe will have been looking at the international break thinking it would’ve been a good time for it to have arrived with several players nursing injuries. However, his squad has only been further decimated with the loss of several other first-teamers.
Saint-Maximin has posted several videos of him moving freely and working out during the international break, which may have had fans thinking he would be back and raring to go on Saturday against Fulham, but Jones looks to have dismissed all of that hope rather quickly.