Achraf Lazaar is no longer a Newcastle United player.
The defender has left the club, having mutually agreed to end his contract early.
After failing to secure an exit during the January transfer window, it seemed all but certain that Lazaar would see out the contract he signed with the club back in 2016.
The Moroccan was signed by Rafa Benitez ahead of the Championship campaign. However, he struggled to get into the team ahead of the reliable Paul Dummett.
Even after Bentiez’s exit, Lazaar couldn’t get in the team.
The 29-year-old didn’t get a second chance when Steve Bruce took over, and was unable to even make the 25-man Premier League squad.
His time in the north east ends with just 10 first-team appearances – non of which came in the Premier League.
During his four-and-a-half years on Tyneside, Lazaar had three loan spells at Benevento, Sheffield Wednesday and Cosenza.
Lazaar leaves Newcastle with a medal
While his impact was nonexistent, Lazaar will always be remembered as part of the squad that won promotion in 2017.
He becomes the third member of that squad to leave the club this year, following Rolando Aarons and DeAndre Yedlin out of the door.
But while Aarons and Yedlin both had bright moments in a black and white shirt, Lazaar’s Toon career was an absolute disaster.
Lazaar will likely go down as the worst signing of the Benitez era. Although Antonio Barreca might give him a run for his money…
Hopefully he can rebuild his career elsewhere, after wasting nearly five years at Newcastle.
Financially, it’s good for the Magpies to get him off the books. It’s just a shame this didn’t happen a week earlier as it might have helped the Magpies in the transfer market.
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