Achraf Lazaar is still a Newcastle United player despite his agent’s desperate attempt to spark a return to Serie A before the October transfer deadline, as reported by Tuttomercatoweb.
Four years since he arrived from Palermo in a deal worth £2 million, the most forgettable of Rafael Benitez signings has become a little more than a drain on Newcastle’s resources these days.
Lazaar has played just 37 minutes of league football for the Magpies, and all of those came during the 2016/17 Championship title-winning campaign.
But, try as they might, Newcastle have found it all-but impossible to get the Morocco international out of the door, despite a pair of impressive loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Benevento.
As it stands, Lazaar will be staying on Tyneside until his contract finally runs out at the end of this season.
For everyone involved, July 1 cannot come soon enough.
“We worked to bring him back to Italy until the last day of the market,” agent Vincenzo Pisacane explained.
“There was some interest but (a transfer) did not materialize. I hope to see him again in our league. He must find continuity.
“He knows what the mistakes of the past have been, but he’s a strong player.”
The 28-year-old, who actually played under Bruce during his short-lived spell at Sheffield Wednesday, has been left out of Newcastle’s 25-man Premier League squad alongside Christian Atsu, Rolando Aarons and Henri Saivet.
According to Spotrac, those four forgotten men set the Tyneside giants back almost £90,000-a-week (and over £4 million-a-year) in wages.
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