On Saturday, Allan Saint-Maximin had the chance to prove he has a future at Newcastle United. By Sunday, talk of him leaving had started once again.
The 26-year-old scored in Newcastle’s 3-2 win over Gateshead, and Eddie Howe was delighted with his performance. The Toon boss described Saint-Maximin as ‘excellent’, heaping praise on the Frenchman.
His performance came amid intense speculation that he is going to leave St James’ Park. It is being rumoured that his exit could finance a move for Harvey Barnes, with the Leicester City winger a key target for Howe.
Rumours of Saint-Maximin joining a club in Saudi Arabia have been doing the rounds in recent weeks, but there had been no mention of a specific team that was interested in the £16.5million man.
That changed on Sunday, when Ben Jacobs stated that Al Ahli are keen. The same claim was made by TalkSPORT, who reported that talks between ASM’s agent and the Saudi Pro League side were at an early stage.
A move to the Middle East could give Newcastle the financial boost they need, but it would also raise serious questions about the club’s ownership.
Selling Saint-Maximin to Al Ahli would be a mistake for Newcastle
Earlier this year, it was announced that Newcastle’s majority shareholders PIF would be expanding their portfolio. They now own 75% of four clubs in Saudi Arabia, one of which is Al Ahli.
This has led to a major recruitment drive in KSA, with huge names flocking to the Saudi Pro League. The likes of Karim Benzema, Ruben Neves, Marcelo Brozovic and more have taken their talents there. There is even talk that Jordan Henderson could join Steven Gerrard’s new club.
Everyone is selling to Saudi Arabia this summer, so why not Newcastle? In that respect, selling Saint-Maximin to a club like Al Ahli makes perfect sense. They will pay major money for a player of his quality, which Newcastle can then reinvest into their squad ahead of the new season.
However, Al Ahli’s involvement with PIF muddies the waters. A deal between two clubs who have the same majority shareholder would raise serious questions and would no doubt be investigated. On the face of it, it looks suspicious, and that is how it would be treated by fans of other clubs.
In truth, there probably wouldn’t be anything fishy about it. If that was the case, it would make no sense for PIF to allow other Premier League clubs to benefit from their wealth. For example, Chelsea are a rival of Newcastle, yet were able to sell Edouard Mendy to Al Ahli.
And if it was as simple as Newcastle sending their deadwood to other PIF-owned clubs, we would not be struggling to get rid of the likes of Isaac Hayden, Jeff Hendrick and Ryan Fraser.
Financially, selling Saint-Maximin to Al Ahli is for the best. However, we could be asking for trouble, which is not what we need considering the amount of scrutiny the club’s ownership already gets.
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