French reports says Manchester United are interested in Allan Saint-Maximin

Add as preferred source on Google

Manchester United are interested in signing Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin, according to reports in France.

The mercurial Frenchman is undoubtedly one of the best dribbles across Europe when he’s in full flow.

He has the pace and trickery to be a matchwinner, but there are times where his final product leaves a lot to be desired, or he opts to try and dribble his way out of trouble instead of lifting his head up and passing the ball to a teammate.

The 25-year-old has started the season impressively for Eddie Howe’s Magpies, registering two assists from the first three matches of the Premier League campaign.

Both of those assists came in Sunday’s entertaining 3-3 draw against Manchester City where Newcastle’s number ten gave Kyle Walker a torrid time.

Manchester United interested in Allan Saint-Maximin

According to Media Foot, the former Nice man is on Manchester United’s radar, but with Erik ten Hag seemingly keen on raiding Eredivisie once again to land much-coveted duo Cody Gakpo and Antony, links with the former France Under-21 international do seem bizarre.

With the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Anthony Elanga and Anthony Martial all contributing in last night’s 2-1 win against bitter rivals Liverpool, it’s hard to envisage Saint-Maximin getting into Ten Hag’s side ahead of the quartet.

And that’s without either Gakpo, Antony or possibly even both moving to Old Trafford before the transfer window closes in nine days time.

The Frenchman has never been known for his clinical goalscoring form. He has 12 goals and 18 assists from 96 matches for the Toon Army.

With four years left to run on his contract at St James’ Park, the world’s richest club would likely want to take a huge profit on a player they signed for £16.5m.

According to WhoScored, Saint-Maximin currently averages 3.7 dribbles per game which puts him in top ten across Europe’s top five leagues.

Saint-Maximin topped the Premier League dribbling charts last season, and only Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze (4.7) currently averages more dribbles per game than the Frenchman who has aspirations of breaking into Didier Deschamps’ Les Bleus World Cup squad.

But as talented as he is, there are better options out there for Manchester United right now than Allan Saint-Maximin.