Steve Bruce addresses Allan Saint-Maximin's Newcastle United future

Saint-Maxmin has been outstanding for the club since joining from Nice last summer in a £16.5million deal. The winger signed a six-year deal at St James’s Park.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's behind-closed-doors home Premier League game against West Ham United, head coach Bruce said: “We can’t help that (speculation) at Newcastle.

“Even with the result we’ve got, there’s still a negative story. Allan has only just arrived here. He signed a six-year deal in the summer. If people are talking about him, good. It means he’s doing it on the pitch.

“People are talking about Allan and (Miguel) Almiron, which means they’re performing on the pitch. That’s all they can focus on and let the rest look after themselves.

Midfielder Miguel Almiron, signed from Atlanta United in a £21million deal last January, has been linked with Atletico Madrid.

Bruce said: “There’s always going to be speculation at Newcastle. To be linked with other clubs, they have to be performing well. My job is to make sure they keep performing well and then let that other stuff look after itself.

“They’ve only been here a short while, and they’ve performed very well. Our job is to keep our best players.

“We certainly don’t want to be losing them – we want to be building around them – and that’s the plan.”