Newcastle midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has disclosed some information on the club's training ground fines list, revealing that Allan Saint-Maximin is punished on a regular basis.
The playmaker said that the summer signing has been fined on a daily basis, but added that no one minds given the performances he's put in so far this season.
Speaking to the Beautiful Game Podcast, Shelvey spoke of his admiration for the French winger, who signed from Nice for £16m back in the summer of 2019. However, Shelvey did admit that his attitude would probably get him into trouble if he wasn't Newcastle's star man.
He said: “He gets fined every day, because he’s got earphones in and stuff like that. He’s one of them if he wasn’t that good then you’d have the hump with him, but because he’s that good you don’t want to have a go at him.
“He’s been outstanding, for me you get your head up and I’m just thinking ‘get the ball to him and let him dribble round 20 players’.
“He’s so quick and raw. He’s improved a lot defensively and that’s just going to make him even better. I can’t speak highly enough of him, honestly.”
Together with Miguel Almiron, the flair duo have allowed Steve Bruce to stick to his philosophy of deep compact defending, allowing the Magpies to hit teams on the counter through pace and skill out wide.
This tactic has been used to great effect against some of the more expansive sides in the Premier League, yielding wins against Chelsea and Manchester United earlier in the season.
Graduating from the prestigious Saint-Etienne academy in France, Saint-Maximin has represented France at every age group up to the Under-21s. His performances for Nice last season prompted calls for Didier Deschamps to call him up to the senior squad and, having carried that form across into the Premier League, those calls are becoming even louder.
Saint-Maximin has played a large role in most of the good work conducted by Newcastle this season, returning three goals and four assists in 21 games, even though he doesn't take his earphones out at the training ground.
Source : 90min