Allan Saint-Maximin drops Newcastle United PSR relegation bombshell claim
Allan Saint-Maximin has discussed his difficult exit from Newcastle United back in 2023.
Saint-Maximin left Newcastle after four years to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli on a three-year deal.
The £21million sale represented the biggest transfer sale made by Newcastle since the PIF-led takeover in 2021. PIF just so happened to own a majority stake in Al-Ahli too.
Since then, PSR issues have forced Newcastle to sell Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson for £33million and £35million respectively.
Saint-Maximin’s sale in the summer of 2023 paved the way for the arrivals of Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento that summer, despite the upcoming PSR trouble. Sandro Tonali had already signed for Newcastle by the time Saint-Maximin departed, while Lewis Hall joined the club on a permanent basis the following summer for £28million after an initial loan spell.
Saint-Maximin left Newcastle after the club had reached the Carabao Cup final, finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League. Two years on, The Magpies have qualified for the Champions League again and won the Carabao Cup to end a 70-year wait for a domestic trophy.
Allan Saint-Maximin turned down opportunities to leave Newcastle United earlier
While Saint-Maximin’s career has taken him on an interesting path since leaving Newcastle, he has no regrets over leaving the club as it was a move that suited all parties at the time.
“I left the club at the top, I didn't leave like a thief,” Saint-Maximin said via YouTube channel Zach. “I didn't leave them when they were at the bottom.
“I had the option to leave them for big clubs, when they were playing at the bottom. I had a lot of offers at that time, but I didn't want to leave them.
“For my career and my development, it was better for me to make these decisions, but I stayed until the end. I stayed loyal, even if I closed my eyes on big financial sums, on much more interesting contracts than the one I had in Newcastle.
“For me, it's important to be loyal. I spent a year in Newcastle, and with the matches I played, even one of my favourites, against Manchester City, where I created three goals, everyone saw it.
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“When you play at that level, when you play against City, when you play against Arsenal, Liverpool, when you score against Manchester, it doesn’t go unnoticed. You get offers, and it was clear to Newcastle that I was irreplaceable.
“This feeling of being irreplaceable, of being an important player, to the point where you don't want to be sold, you don't want to get rid of yourself, it was an exceptional feeling.
“In the end, I decided to be loyal, and for me, it was really important the day I decided to leave, to leave through the front door. That's what I did. I left when we finished 4th.
“It was a more complicated season due to the injuries I had that season. I had a few absences that were costly in a way, and the team did very well without me.
“I also experienced the cup final, where I was the starter of the first final in years. We experienced the final against Manchester [United], and they won [v Liverpool]. I was so happy. It was as if I had won.
“It was exceptional, because you know what it's like when you're just there and you see the disappointment of the supporters, of your teammates, and the fact that they manage to live that, it's exceptional.
“So that's why, to come back to it, when there was this proposal that came to help the club because that's what you can't forget.”
Allan Saint-Maximin drops NUFC PSR relegation suggestion
Last summer, Newcastle felt the sting of PSR and came close to being handed a points deduction by the Premier League, but ended up narrowly avoiding it. But Saint-Maximin, albeit exaggerating slightly, knew the club were in a difficult financial situation when it came to PSR when he left a year beforehand.
“We bought a lot of players but in the end we didn't sell any,” he said. “It was tough. We were going to end up in the second division if we didn't sell.
“I was the player with the biggest market value so the club came to see me. We didn't want to separate. It wasn't the first thing I wanted.
“But like I said, when there's this loyalty, this love for a club that gave you so much and when there's a proposal that comes like that, the proposal of a lifetime, it was the perfect thing.”
Ultimately, Newcastle sold the likes of Saint-Maximin, Minteh and Anderson in the same financial year to avoid a PSR points deduction, let alone a relegation.
Allan Saint-Maximin discusses life-changing Saudi Pro League contract
Saint-Maximin left one PIF club for another and signed a lucrative three-year deal at Al-Ahli, which he suggested was worth €90million in total and five times his salary at Newcastle.
After a season in the Saudi Pro League, Saint-Maximin joined Fenerbahce on loan for the 2024/25 campaign. Now he’s officially back at Al-Ahli but keeping his options open with a return to Europe a possibility this summer.
But it’s unlikely many European sides would be willing to match his Saudi Pro League contract.
“Most players have big salaries in the Premier League, in Paris Saint-Germain, in clubs like Inter, Milan, Real, etc.,” Saint-Maximin said. “But the offers you get in Arabia is another world.
“It's another world when you go from three million per year net to a proposal of 15 million per season on a three-year contract that's 45 million net and 90 million gross, it's numbers where when you see the contract and you ask yourself if it's real, you say to yourself, I'm really going to be able to earn that?
“I started football, I earned 300 euros [per week]. When you start, you're aspiring to 300 euros. And to see that in the end, you have a proposal like that on a 45 million net contract, it's exceptional.
“That's why I say they've changed my whole life. The schools for my children, the houses I was able to buy, my parents, my family, everyone, it's thanks to them.
“And of course, thanks to God. I'm very religious, so everything that happens is a grace. Without God, none of this would have been possible.
“God comes into people's hearts and that contract allowed me to change my life and to change the lives of all the people around me.”