It’s not too unfair to say Achraf Lazaar’s career is in bad shape right now. Signing for Newcastle United in 2016, the now 28-year-old has been on three loans away from the club since.
Those loans, with Benevento, Sheffield Wednesday and Cosenza, haven’t had the level of success either Lazaar or Newcastle United will have hoped for, and he now finds himself back with the Magpies but completely out of the picture.
Steve Bruce didn’t include the fullback in his Premier League squad for the current season, which has left Lazaar picking one appearance in the EFL Trophy and three appearances for Newcastle’s PL2 side.
His contract expires at the end of June 2021 and it’s now unlikely Bruce’s side will be able to get a transfer fee in the next window. Lazaar will be looking for an opportunity to get his career back on track, yet needs to find a club willing to take a chance on him.
One man who believes there’s a lot of talent there to be extracted is former Morocco international Houssine Kharja.
Speaking to TMW, he made it clear he feels Lazaar is wasting his career at Newcastle United: “As a person I appreciate him very much, he is a brother. And I’m annoyed with him: he has great qualities, that he’s not playing in a great Italian team makes me angry. When he returned to the national team last month I was pleased. He should have done a lot more.”
