“The last thing we want to be doing is selling our best players. The thing for Allan is he needs to find consistency. Staying well and staying fit.

“COVID hit him badly but you can see when he is playing, and playing injury free, he is a special special talent, which inevitably will draw interest, of course. The last thing we want to do is sell.

“Watch him once and you know he is a talent, a gifted footballer. He is one who gets you off your seat and there are not many of them. He scored a goal in training which was remarkable. It’s a pity we don’t have any footage of it.

“We applauded him. He has a wonderful talent but needs to find the consistency which big players need and stay well. COVID hit him badly. For two months he only got up to a walk. He has only played three full 90 minutes all season.”

How much does Saint-Maximin earn at Newcastle?

Believed to be one of the club’s top earners (in the region of £80k-per-week), Saint-Maximin is currently valued at £25.2m by Transfermarkt.

Still, even that sot of fee would surely be considered cheap. Statistically the second-best dribbler in the Premier League this season (via WhoScored), he is on course to record more than his 7 goal contributions of last season and is still relatively young at 24 years of age.

An absolute game-changer as he proved against Burnley earlier this month as he ramped up his return from injury, Newcastle would surely be in a strong position to ask for almost double that should any interest emerge this summer, considering just how important he is to them.