In the season gone by Saint-Maximin made 35 appearances in the Premier League, scoring five goals and providing the same number of assists.
The winger is famed for his trickery and the speed with which he carries the ball up the field, but it is his performance in the final third that has Macdonald concerned.
Macdonald thinks that for a player of his talent, the winger should be getting at least 12 goals in a season as opposed to five and should also have a greater number of assists.
The Magpies legend believes that the winger does not contribute to the team as much as Kieran Tripper or Bruno Guimaraes and stressed that the club have a big decision to make in the summer regarding his future.
“For a player who sees so much of the ball in a game he does next to nothing with it”, Macdonald wrote in his Chronicle Live column about Saint-Maximin.
“He scored five goals in the season just ended and none during a long run-in when United were playing their best stuff.
“With his natural talent and self believe Saint-Maximin ought to be getting a minimum of 12 goals every season.
“As for assists who many does he actually make?
“Yes the last of Callum Wilson’s two goals at Burnley but before that how many?
“It is said that the Frenchman wants parity with Newcastle’s top earners.
“Is he kidding? Does he contribute as much as Bruno or Kieran Trippier to the team not himself?
“No, Howe and the owners have a huge, huge decision to make because if you keep him and play him then he dictates everything that happens, or rather doesn’t happen, in the final third of the pitch.
“And if you put him on the bench regularly he could sour the special atmosphere in the dressing-room.”
Saint-Maximin landed himself in hot water recently after he suggested that better cohorts in attack would increase his assist numbers, but then insisted that his comments were taken out of context.
