Allan Saint-Maximin continues to endear himself to the Newcastle United fanbase both on and off the pitch but Mike Ashley club could look to sell the Frenchman to give Steve Bruce a larger transfer budget, something former defender Steve Howey would not like to see.

Saint-Maximin dazzled during the second half of last season for the Magpies with his willingness to drive forward with the ball and attract three or four players to him at once something that really helped the club claw their way out of relegation trouble.

Newcastle have reportedly slapped a £70 million price tag on his head but the work he has done off the pitch recently is priceless, donating a handful of gaming consoles to a local school, which is what the fans would take hard if he left this summer.

The 24-year-old was signed as a very rough diamond from OGC Nice and if the club were to sell him this summer they could make a sizeable profit on the £16 million they paid in 2019, which would allow Bruce to improve a lot of his squad by selling just one player according to Howey, who spoke exclusively to Transfer Tavern:

"To build a better team you've got to keep him, unless the club are so wise and so clever with the money that they'd get from him to make the team better because if it does, then that's fine. However, for me, I don't want the club to sell him."

Saint-Maximin is a crowd-pleaser, entertainer and such a talent that the Magpies could not afford to head into next season without the one player that makes everything click for Bruce's side.

It is reported that Bruce is set to be dealing with a tight budget this summer so in one sense, selling someone for potentially £70 million could be feasible, however it would be disastrous given how the club acted when they last spend heavily in the transfer market on their current number nine.