CRAIG HOPE: Eddie Howe must get Allan Saint-Maximin moving forwards

Eddie Howe needs to get Allan Saint-Maximin out of one box and into another. The penalty box is where he wants him to be. 

The yellow-chevroned box directly outside the club's training-ground doors, where the French winger routinely ditches his Ferrari, less so. 

It has annoyed some team-mates, given the only reserved bays in that area are intended for Howe and captain Jamaal Lascelles. 

'That is something we will be addressing with him,' said Howe, when asked about the parking faux pas at the team's Austrian hotel this week. 'You guys know everything, don't you?'

What we do not know is how to get more from an enigma like Saint-Maximin on the playing field. 

That is Howe's job, and arguably the biggest challenge facing the head coach this season, especially as attacking additions have not been possible so far this summer.

Saint-Maximin's talent is obvious. It is with good reason that, before, during and after Newcastle's 1-0 defeat by Mainz in Kufstein on Monday, the hundreds of schoolchildren in attendance were drawn to him like files to a magnet. 

'I play with you all the time on FIFA,' said one, as Saint-Maximin sat pitchside during the opening hour, distracted from the game by a mob of selfie hunters.

But what the 25-year-old's incarnation can do on a computer screen - the kids will tell you that his numbers for speed and dribbling make him something of a cheat code - has translated less so to real life in recent months. 

It is why Newcastle's hierarchy were prepared to listen to offers of around £40million heading into this transfer window. They, however, were not forthcoming. 

For this season at least, he will remain Howe's problem or Howe's privilege. Saint-Maximum or Saint-Minimum? That depends on how he responds