Allan Saint-Maximin has signalled his intent to stay at Newcastle and challenge in Europe next season.
The winger has transformed his long term prospects at St James’ Park in recent months, and has also targeted a France call up. At the start of the season he was reprimanded by Howe for parking his Ferrari in the out of bounds bay at the door of the training ground. He was also told to deliver more physical output on the pitch by his boss, who rated him the best in the world one versus one.
The fruits of Saint-Maximin’s fresh drive are now being picked by United’s strikers Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak. And the king dribbler insists he can be part of a team ethic and produce moments of flair.
The 26-year-old is the latest player to improve under head coach Howe, who says he’s “been focused for a while now” and is producing assists.
Saint-Maximin said: “A lot of people say, 'Maxi don’t really fit in that system', 'he doesn't really run enough' or things like that. But I know it's not true.
“When you get the fight I have now, it's nothing difficult for me. We fight for something, we work for something. It's a better position to be in.
"I always try to run back, and to help the team to attack as well. Sometimes the people outside don't understand that. The manager always asks me to give my best defensively but he wants me to attack, he wants me to score goals, he wants me to run, to go one-v-one against my defender.
“If I play like a left back it would not be possible for me to do that. With my quality, I need to find the balance. Sometimes people think they know everything, but they just know nothing. I'm very comfortable because the manager knows when I am on the pitch, we don't lose like every single game.”
Saint-Maximin has been linked with a move to Italy in the summer, especially after the arrival of £40million Anthony Gordon, but has an eye on next season.
"I've never been in a situation where I start every single game and be part of a team going to be in the Champions League or Europa League. That's never happened in my career.
“I've been at Nice and Monaco as well, very good clubs, always in a good position. They won the league as well at Monaco. But it was not like here.
“The feeling, my life here, the way I love the supporters, and the way they support me and love me – it's crazy. They've been there when everything was not good. To see myself when everything starts to come together, I feel very good."
Howe says Saint-Maximin deserves all the credit for his improvement: “He's an integral part of it because he's a bit different and no-one else can do what Maxi does.
“Although he's an individual talent, he's performing well within the team structure. The message to him is that we want to see the best Maxi possible and there's loads of things that go into making that happen.
“Responsibility for performance always lies with the player, but he's really focused on doing well at the moment and it's great to see.”
