Steve Bruce now says one of his Newcastle players was ‘absolutely breathtaking’ in training

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Former Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce has heaped praise on Allan Saint-Maximin, despite admitting that he was ‘difficult to manage’.

Allan Saint-Maximin was probably Newcastle United’s best player during Steve Bruce‘s reign at St James’ Park, having arrived in the summer of 2019.

The Frenchman joined Newcastle shortly after Bruce, and it quickly became apparent how important he was going to be to that Toon team.

Bruce relied heavily on Saint-Maximin, and often gave him the freedom to do what he wanted. Maxi had the ability to do the unthinkable, and Bruce indulged him. He got the best out of the winger, which is not an easy task.

Now the former Toon boss has been looking back on his time at St James’ Park, and has reflected on just how much he enjoyed working with Allan Saint-Maximin.

Steve Bruce was amazed by Allan Saint-Maximin

Bruce appeared on TalkSPORT on Tuesday morning, and was asked about signing Saint-Maximin during his time as Newcastle United manager.

“He did as much as anybody for me at Newcastle,” he said.

“He was our out. I relied on him to do a little bit of magic.

“Difficult to manage at times – not in a bad way. He was absolutely adamant that he was taking his children to school. One was at one school, one was at another. By the time he got in and beat the traffic, it was like 20 to 10. I said ‘but you’re supposed to be in at 9.15, Allan’.

“He loved football. He did stuff which only great players could do. He could lift you off your seat, worth the admission fee alone. Some of the stuff he did in training was absolutely breathtaking.

“I hope he’s doing well out in Saudi. A great player. Them two years I had with Saint-Maximin – £15million, he was a great find.”

Steve Bruce got the best out of the winger at Newcastle United

There were obviously challenges, but Bruce got the best out of Saint-Maximin. He was tough to manage, but Bruce found a way.

ASM was the main man under him, so much so that we could barely function without him. We were so reliant on him, while Bruce has admitted that he was regularly creating magic in training too – when he managed to turn up on time!

When you compare Bruce to Eddie Howe, it is like chalk and cheese. But the one thing Bruce did that Howe didn’t was get a tune out of Saint-Maximin. Now, he was not bad under Howe, but he was certainly less influential.

Howe found a way for Newcastle to be successful without him, while Saint-Maximin struggled with with the tactical astuteness that Howe demands from his wingers.

It ultimately led to Saint-Maximin leaving last summer, joining Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia for £23million. However, Howe has since stated that he actually wanted to keep him.