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This article is part of Football FanCast's The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
Newcastle look set to wrap up a deal for Allan Saint-Maximin, and they now have perhaps the most brilliantly exciting, confusing and enigmatic front three in the Premier League.
What's the story?
Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie revealed on Thursday night that the Magpies are “on the verge” of completing a £16.5m deal for the OGC Nice winger.
The 22 year-old was then spotted on Tyneside on Friday, and it seems only a matter of time before he joins record signing Joelinton as the only arrivals so far this summer.
The deal could rise to £20m if add-ons and bonuses are met.
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On the chalkboard
For all the buzz and excitement around the January arrival of Miguel Almiron, he never really got going last season. Perhaps it was an adjustment period coming from the far inferior MLS, or perhaps it was because he didn’t have like-minded players alongside him.
Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez were popular with the Toon Army for a reason, and both enjoyed superb campaigns earning them big money moves to China and Leicester City respectively, but neither of them are the type of enigmatic, daring, make-something-out-of-nothing players that the Magpies now possess.
Almiron boasts an average of 2.9 shots, 1.8 key passes and 1.6 dribbles per game throughout the last few years, while he is also dispossessed 1.5 times and takes 2 unsuccessful touches each game, per Whoscored. However, he did not score once in ten Newcastle appearances last term, and averaged just 74.7% pass completion.
Similarly, Saint-Maximin’s last season with Nice produced 2.2 shots, 1.7 key passes and 4.2 dribbles per game, along with 2.4 dispossessions and a whopping 3.6 unsuccessful touches each game, per Whoscored. He only scored six times, and completed 76% of his passes.
Finally we have Joelinton, who scored only seven times in the Bundesliga last term, despite boasting 2 shots, 1.5 key passes and 1.7 dribbles per game. Again, he was dispossessed a lot (2.2) and took 2.9 unsuccessful touches per game, while he completed just 79% of his passes.
So how to put this nicely? Well, it is clear all three players have exceptional one-on-one ability, skill and the confidence to take defenders on, leaving them in the dust on their hands and knees, pondering the humiliation they just suffered.
They all shoot a lot, they all produce a lot of chances, both for themselves and others, and none of them are afraid to try and make something happen.
However, they also all struggle to find the back of the net, with the exception of Almiron’s final season with Atlanta United, and they all give the ball away at an alarming rate, while not being particularly tidy passers of the ball either.
Put simply, Newcastle’s front three is now boom or bust. One week they may embarrass defenders and rip teams to shreds, only to struggle to keep control of the ball or complete a pass the following week.
They are exhilarating, bold, skilful, frightening and impossibly unpredictable. They are also horrifically inefficient, wasteful and extremely raw… Should be run, right?
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