Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin has posted a cryptic story to his Instagram page as he prepares for pre-season training to get underway.
Saint-Maximin was one of the first players to arrive at St. James’ Park under the tenure of Steve Bruce in 2019.
He has since established himself as arguably Newcastle’s most important player.
With the Frenchman in the side, Newcastle won 10, drew four and lost 11 of their 25 games in the Premier League.
When Saint-Maximin was unavailable for the other 13 games of the season, Newcastle won just twice and lost on six occasions.
His return from injury was one of the catalysts for the Magpies’ late-season run which saw them avoid relegation from the top flight.
A 12th-placed finish meant progress on the 13th-placed finish of the previous term under Bruce.
But with Saint-Maximin continuing to deliver the goods, there have been rumours about his long-term future at Newcastle.
He told Sport France back in October that “staying is a possibility” if “the club is developing well”.
Then, in May, he told talkSPORT: “I have to be honest, sometimes you have to think about yourself.
“The most important thing is the team, of course, but you have to think sometimes about your future and that’s why I say I don’t want to fight for one more year to be safe.
“So I hope we try to do everything to have more ambition and to win a trophy and fight for the first place, it can be great.”
Saint-Maximin shows progress on Instagram
Ahead of a return to pre-season training this week, Saint-Maximin has been updating fans on his fitness progress.
He posted a video of himself doing footwork exercises, tagging it with the captions: “Ready for the biggest challenge of my life” and “it’s time to do it”.
The identity of the ‘challenge’ seemingly hasn’t been revealed – but Magpies fans will be hoping it involves the Frenchman staying on Tyneside for some time to come.
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