Allan Saint-Maximin is a firm fans' favourite at Newcastle United and he pleased one particular supporter after gifting him a Rolex watch after the Magpies' win over Nottingham Forest.
Goals from Fabian Schar and Callum Wilson earned Eddie Howe's side an opening day success over Forest at St James' Park as Newcastle started the campaign as they mean to go on. It was a mightily impressive performance from the Magpies, who dominated their opponents from start to finish, with Saint-Maximin showing his class.
After the match, Saint-Maximin went to greet supporters and he made a remarkable gesture as he handed over the expensive watch to Newcastle supporter Steve Dutton. The fan shook Saint-Maximin's hand, spoke to him for a couple of minutes and was clearly in shock by the gesture.
Dutton took to social media to praise Saint-Maximin for his actions and was still stunned. "I was the person who was gifted the watch from ASM, I was totally speechless," Dutton wrote.
"I thought he was coming to sign autographs and have pictures taken with the kids. I’m still in shock, I can’t thank @asaintmaximin enough."
He has now given away two watches within the last 12 months, after he handed Newcastle supporter Michael Urwin a TAG Heuer Aquaracer in November 2021. The winger was evidently in good spirits after Newcastle's opening day win as he sent out a tweet which read: 'Black & White forever'.
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The Frenchman was in excellent form over the weekend and caused Forest many problems down the left flank as he gave Neco Williams a torrid time. Eddie Howe has tried to get more out of Saint-Maximin and admitted in pre-season that they have been working with the player.
"We've worked really hard with Maxi during pre-season. He's in a really good place, I think. He looks happy. He's trained well," Howe said last month. "He's delivered everything that we've asked him to deliver. We've pushed him physically. He's responded. So I'm hoping for a very, very good season.
"I think my big message to him at the end of last season was, physically, we need to try and get more. And that's in every area of his game; so that's more forward runs, getting in more goalscoring positions. Obviously, he's devastating when he's one v one. I wouldn't say there's a better one v one player from an attacking perspective than Maxi in world football. So we need to get the ball in better areas.
"But I think the expectation of Maxi, he's got to be able to deliver the physical effort that I want the team to deliver. So there's been a lot of individual work towards that. And yeah, I'm expecting a great season from him."
