After French outlet RMC revealed that Newcastle United officials had arrived in Nice to ‘finalise a deal’ for Allan Saint-Maximin, a few Ligue 1 journalists have taken to Twitter to comment on the deal.
Firstly, we got in touch with French reporter Fracois Piraux after he posted the following on Saint-Maximin (see below), and he told us he has “no doubt” the 22-year-old will sign, also backing up RMC’s claims that we now have representatives in Nice to complete a deal.
Piraux then had this to say about Saint-Maximin when asked whether a €18m (£16.5m) deal (plus bonuses) would be a good one for Newcastle United:
“No doubt he is a talented player (winger or second striker) but he is still young and must be more regular. He needs confidence from the manager and to be focus about his football. But, he has lot of qualities, pace, skills and can score many goals.”
RMC sport and GOAL journalist Loic Tanzi then had his say on the potential deal, claiming that the deal is ‘not done yet’, but confirming that we do have officials in France as we speak to finalise a deal.
He also states that a deal had been complicated by the fact Nice are expecting to have new owners soon and that Nice want €20m, but RMC now suggest that an €18m offer PLUS bonuses may tempt them into a sale:
Hopefully there’s an official announcement from sources closer to home to confirm that the winger really is on his way to St James’ Park.
