Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce says Allan Saint-Maximin's love for fashion is much more than what he experienced while coaching Asamoah Gyan at Sunderland.
During the pair's two-year spell at Sunderland, Gyan gifted the Manchester United legend a pimped up black tracksuit with an African map encrusted with diamond-like stones on it.
According to the 58-year-old gaffer, until he met Allan Saint-Maximin, he never believed he would meet a player possessing a bigger, more vibrant, wardrobe than Gyan, but the winger’s arrival from Nice has confounded that assumption.
“He’s 22 and he’s got more outfits than I’ve seen,” Bruce says. “Allan’s different and I’m sure, at times, he’s going to cause me problems but, deep down, he’s a decent kid.
“Allan likes an earring. He gives me £100 in fines every other day when he forgets to take it out. I’ve got a few quid off him already but the players like him. He’s daft, off the wall and likable.”
At Nice, Saint-Maximin frequently drove his manager, Patrick Vieira, to distraction but, so far at least, Bruce is more amused by the comparisons with a certain Ghana striker. “Asamoah Gyan was all bling and he became fed up with me always taking money off him in fines,” he says. “So he brought me this tracksuit with a map of Africa on it in green and yellow and gold. I wear it to walk the dog but Allan’s into Louis Vuitton, he’s got the matching gear on every day.”