Newcastle United's Allan Saint-Maximin prepares for Premier League return

Saint-Maximin – who scored five Premier League goals last season – is preparing for the start of pre-season training on July 1.

The Newcastle United winger posted a video of himself doing hill runs on Instagram. He was wearing an Oan Djorkaeff jersey. Djorkaeff, son of World Cup-winning midfielder Youri, was a team-mate of Saint-Maxmin at Saint-Etienne early in his career.

Saint-Maximin posted a message to his “real supporters” when he turned 25 in March – and vowed to “change the rules”.

“I don’t like birthdays to be honest, but I still wanted to share something with you guys,” said Saint-Maximin.

“I started playing football at 4 years old and I signed my first professional contract 10 years ago.

“Today I turn 25, and when I look back there are so many sacrifices I have made, like not being able to see my little sister becoming the woman she is today, or not being able to be at home to help my parents during difficult times. I’m really proud of what I achieved.

“Yet lots of people think it’s easy, but you can’t buy everything with money. So I just wanted to say thank you to all my real supporters, the people who really love me and trust me, much more to come, lots of projects coming, we are ready to change the rules.”

Saint-Maximin, signed from Nice three years ago, had a spell out with a calf problem in the second half of last season.