Achraf Lazaar has failed to make an impact in Serie A and will return to Newcastle.
Newcastle United loanee Achraf Lazaar will return to St. James’ Park in the summer according to the Evening Chronicle, after being left out of loan side Benevento’s 25-man Serie A squad.
Lazaar, 26, had made a decent start to life in the top tier of Italian football, playing in nine Serie A matches up until December and even finding the back of the net against Lazio in 5-1 defeat.
However, the Morocco international suffered a long-term knee injury towards the end of November and now Benevento have decided to axe the former Palermo left-footed in order to include new signing Bacary Sagna in their squad list.
It means a permanent deal is almost completely out of the question and Benitez’s 2016 summer signing will now return to St. James’ Park at the end of the season ahead of pre-season training.
Benitez splashed out around £2.5million on Lazaar to bring him to Tyneside from Palermo, but he managed just 10 appearances for the Toon with Paul Dummett and Christian Atsu occupying the slots on the left flank last term.
There is a permanent clause in Benevento’s deal for Lazaar, but he is likely to remain a Newcastle player with three and a half years still remaining on his parent club contract that is reportedly worth £15,000 a week.
Struggling to offload Lazaar in the summer, Benitez will now face an even tougher fight to sell the Toon outcast in the coming months.
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