The last time Allan Saint-Maximin was the best player on a field that mattered, he was dragging RC Lens to the first Coupe de France in the club's history and a second-place finish in Ligue 1, just the sixth in that club's 120-year existence. Now he is coming to Charlotte. Folks, read that again.
On Monday, Charlotte FC signed the 29-year-old French forward to a three-year Designated Player contract that runs through the 2028-29 season. He takes up a DP spot and an international roster slot. This is the big-time swing this town has been waiting for from a soccer club that has spent three years being competent, occasionally thrilling, and rarely SCARY.
Let me tell you something about this guy. Four seasons at Newcastle United, 13 goals and 21 assists in 124 appearances at St. James' Park, and in his final year up there the Magpies finished fourth in the Premier League and qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 2003. Then a reported deal approaching $30 million took him to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia. Then a loan to Fenerbahçe in Turkey, complete with Champions League and Europa League nights. A run at Club America in Mexico. And then Lens, where he showed up in February and helped win a trophy the club had never won before.
"Maxi is an elite attacking talent who has consistently performed at the highest levels of our sport, including in the Premier League," general manager Zoran Krneta said. "His creativity, speed, technical ability and flair make him immediately one of the most exciting players in Major League Soccer."
Now, GMs say nice things about new signings. That is the job. But the résumé is doing the talking here. Newcastle did not put him on the field 124 times because they liked the highlight reel. (Although the highlight reel is, and I cannot stress this enough, absurd.)
He is a forward, five-foot-eight, born in Châtenay-Malabry outside Paris, and he arrives on a free transfer. A player with this pedigree, in the prime of his career, for nothing but wages and a plane ticket. That is the kind of deal that makes the rest of the league look up from what it was doing.
And the timing could not be sharper. Charlotte FC has been idle through the World Cup break, no league match since May, sitting 6-6-3 with 21 points. They restart July 22 against Atlanta United. They just landed their first three All-Stars in club history, with Dean Smith set to coach the All-Star Game right here at home. And now this. (Down in Matthews, the development side is holding up its end too: Crown Legacy won 3-2 on Saturday.)
Six professional teams in this city, and for a while Charlotte FC was the one selling a dream while the standings said middle of the pack. A Designated Player who was starting Champions League-qualifying seasons in the Premier League a season and a half ago does not fix a table by himself. But he changes what it feels like to walk into Bank of America Stadium.
The best player on the field. In Charlotte. Read it again.