Achraf Lazaar misses the point as he aims a shot at former Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez

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Achraf Lazaar will always be remembered as a Newcastle United flop. Signed by Rafa Benitez in 2016, the Moroccan was expected to play a role in the Magpies’ Championship season.

But come May 2017, promotion was confirmed and the title was won, but Lazaar had barely been involved.

After signing from Palermo, he made just four Championship appearances, and became even more out of favour once we were back in the Premier League.

He’s been on loan to Benevento and Sheffield Wednesday, and now Lazaar is back in Italy again with Serie B side Cosenza Calcio. And after leaving Newcastle for the third time, Lazaar has aimed a bit of a dig at the man who brought him to St James’ Park.

“I signed because I Newcastle is a big club and I wanted to fight for the black-and-white shirt,” he told the Chronicle.

“So, yeah, I was disappointed. It was funny because everybody kept asking me: ‘What is going on?’

“I came here and worked hard, but I got no minutes.”

Lazaar went on to add: “Rafa Benitez is a big manager and he choose to do that. He called me up and asked me to come to Newcastle, but after that he didn’t play me.

“I was sorry about that. I lost two years of my career because of it. I have time to recover, but I still thank Rafa because he gave me some big lessons in my life.”

Is Lazaar right to blame Benitez for his Newcastle disaster?

While he at least had the humility to thank Benitez, it seems a bit cheap for Lazaar to blame the Spaniard for his own shortcomings.

The left-back never really looked up to it, even in the Championship. While technically alright on the ball, he was never going to do the disciplined job that Benitez wanted.

It’s not the manager’s fault that Lazaar wasn’t up to standard. He should’ve done more in training or worked harder to get a chance. Any chance he did get, he failed to take.

Even when  new manager Steve Bruce came in, Lazaar got the same treatment. His appearance in pre-season against Wolves was appalling, and Bruce allowed him to leave on loan again after ignoring him for his Premier League squad.

It didn’t work out at Newcastle for Lazaar, but that’s not Benitez’s fault just because it was his decision to sign him.