Newcastle United completed the permanent signing of French attacker Allan Saint-Maximin from Nice for £16.5M on a 6-year deal and hope he can be the next of a long line of French wingers to inject flair, creativity and excitement onto St. James. Park.

David Ginola, Laurent Robert, Hatem Ben Arfa, the names of the wizards of the dribble to dazzle the Geordie faithful roll off the tongue like the ball at the feet of the mercurial masters and 22 year-old Saint-Maximin will be the most flamboyant of the lot.

Wearing a trademark Gucci headband, the lightning fast 5ft 6in baller is known for his outrageous stepovers, nutmegs and dummies, tricks and flicks as well as lively dancing and somersault celebrations after he has dispatched an effort into the net.

Dribbling at defenders at pace is his forte and he completed the most dribbles in Lique 1 last season - more than Brazilian Neymar - and is regularly in the top dribblers in Europe rankings alongside Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi and former NUFC man Ben Arfa.

As well as the obvious joy he brings supporters, his game is not without end product and last season for Nice, Saint-Maximin scored 6 times in 36 games playing right, left and central attack and laid off a further 3 goals for teammates like Mario Balotelli.

Saint-Maximin is a France U20 international and lit up the U20 World Cup in 2017 with some glorious displays of skill and goals and put himself firmly on the radar of the big clubs and now one of the biggest of all Newcastle United has captured him.

Steve Bruce this week said Newcastle's aims and ambitions were far loftier than merely to finish 17th in the Premier League and he talked of 'Going for it' in The Cups:

"Surely as a club we can win five or game games? If the draw is kind to you, like it was at Hull ... that’s got to be an aim."

and players like Saint-Maximin with the drive, determination and skill set to upset the very best of defences can be the vehicle to take Newcastle there.

Energised by a harder training regime than in previous years which may partly explain the slow starts to seasons under former manager Rafa Benitez's tenure, The Magpies romped to a 3-1 win over Hibernian in Scotland on Tuesday night playing slick attacking football with record striker signing Joelinton grabbing his first Toon goal alongside an excellent strike by Sean Longstaff and a towering header by Captain Jamaal Lascelles:

Joelinton the £40M Brazilian who is already being talked about as the next Brazil no.9 shone on his full debut showing a superb array of pace. strength and skills notching Newcastle's equalizing first and linked up well with striker partner Miguel Almiron.

Steve Bruce has vowed to bring attacking football back to Newcastle and told The Chronicle's Lee Ryder he'll be playing at attacking and enterprising 3-5-2 system:

"That's the way we're going to play.
"We're going to try and play.
"I've always tried that and the system suits us.
"It puts us with two at the top end of the pitch, which gives you a chance.
"The last three or four months they've been playing that way anyway - certainly with three centre-backs.
"We'll have a crack."

Newcastle play their curtain-raising friendly vs St. Etienne at St. James' Park on Saturday and the prospect of seeing one of the most exciting front trios in world football will be whetting the football appetites of Geordie fans after the summer..