The agent of Palermo defender Achraf Lazaar is holding talks today in Milan with Palermo Sporting Director Daniele Faggiano to see what’s going to happen with the left-back.
Lazaar has just one year left on his contract at Palermo and a number of clubs have already enquired about the 24 year-old, with Newcastle reported to be one of the clubs favored to sign him.
24 year-old Palermo defender Achraf Lazaar
TMW are reporting that discussions are going on right now in an attempt to sort out the future of the 16 times capped Moroccan International defender.
If the decision is that he will leave Palermo this month Newcastle and Rafa Benitez still have to persuade the defender that his future lies in the English second division – at least for this season.
That’s not always easy to do even with Rafa’s legendary persuasive powers.
West Ham are also said to be interested in signing the player and there was news last week they were even close to a deal, so if they are still interested it could be tough for Newcastle.
Lazaar joined Palermo back in January, 2014 from Varese, where he played 46 games with one goal and had one assist; he has played 76 games for Palermo with 3 goals and 6 assists in the last two and a half years.
He would be a good acquisition for Newcastle – if we can get him – and we do need to sign a left-back this month.
Comments welcome.
47 comments so far
Rotonda heights
Aug 25, 2016 at 4:40 PM
Comment #1Ian / carl / pushy
yes like when pardew replaced tevez and mascherano with his british core worldbeaters harewood and mullins. that worked well.
As per, you miss the point, nothing wrong with going foreign, even allardyce got that right. Carr’s choice of foreign largely wasn’t good for s—e managers like AP who don’t do flair and technical.
I’ve got this horrible image of your room being covered in Alan pardew’s pictures with signed autographs. I’m right aren’t I. Creepy …
Laurent Robert 32
Aug 25, 2016 at 4:42 PM
Comment #2Don’t forget the pen-pal letters on the wall, Rotonda. Can’t leave them off.
Kind of like the scene on Alan Partridge when Alan meets his number one fan.
WWSBRD
Aug 25, 2016 at 4:44 PM
Comment #3Again would be a coup to get him in though money talks and we’ve got plenty
Laurent Robert 32
Aug 25, 2016 at 4:48 PM
Comment #4Hopefully we get our left back soon.
Belfast
Aug 25, 2016 at 4:49 PM
Comment #5I’m still not convinced we’ll sign a left back lol
wynsleap
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:05 PM
Comment #6Anybody but Dummett would be an improvement!
Why are we still having injuries? I thought that Rafa was going to sort this out? Seems like a curse we’re never going to get rid of.
How about a striker for Saturday Rafa? What happened to Haller?
Not convinced Perez is strong enough to be up there on his own.
magscar
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:11 PM
Comment #7Laurent Robert 32 // Aug 25, 2016 at 4:10 PM
Magscar, the problem is, who is on the list lower than what we have from it already? Doesn’t sound like it’d be better.
Had Rafa taken on the players we had, I think most would have done an awful lot better.
Laurent
Not really sure what you’re driving at in the first para of above post on previous thread.
Notwithstanding how entries are rated on his list e.g. Ability, cost,wages, sell on value etc. it still doesn’t reflect well that our buys were included and whether they were below more promising recruits is immaterial.
Yes our hindsight tells us they shouldn’t have been included but Carr”s greater experience and judgement should have been already telling him same.
On Rafa I am sure that he could have coached these players better ( he is a better manager than his recent predecessors) but doubt it could have been enough to make an appreciable difference.
There is of course another factor in all of our musings and that is even in our better years some players ( or their partners) don’t fancy coming to NE. So it isn’t always the clubs policies at fault if we don’t land them.
magicmac
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:13 PM
Comment #8At the moment we only have one target man, and one winger, and we are still after a defender, what on earth is going on, this situation could only happen at Newcasthe, the priority at the moment is more wingers, and strikers, and bloody more defenders. HWTL.
magicmac
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:14 PM
Comment #9I meant not bloody more defenders.
Laurent Robert 32
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:15 PM
Comment #10Magscar, just general points I was making.
hibbitt
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:17 PM
Comment #11Belfast
its not just a LB Aarons is now out for 8/12 weeks we need the LB and LW sorted before the window closes
wynsleap
not much Rafa could have done with 2 concussion and the new FA rules (cant play within 6 days of a concussion )
and Aarons broken toe
magscar
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:17 PM
Comment #12Wynsleap
Fom what posters who were at match have said about how injuries occurred I don’t think even Rafa could have forestalled them 🙂
It is smply our usual bad luck – hopefuly these and news on Aarons time out have only strengthened Club’s resolve to get in the necessary targets.
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:18 PM
Comment #13I give Carr the benefit of doubt unlike mcclaren and pardew because Carr will have a list of players and depending on how much Ashley wants to save we have no idea if cabella or thauvin or riviere etc were top of his list, middle or bottom. No one does
The difference with the managers is they find a way to make it work because they have a squad and make decisions.
Example A: Pardew going against medical advice to play Arfa on a plastic pitch, or playing Santon as a DM away to Chelsea.
Example B: strong 2nd half to season we finished 5th playing 433, changed to to please Ba struggled following season with Ba gone in January.
McClaren clueless everywhere he’s been, only success is Holland, here’s a man that failed with Lampard, Cole, Terry, Gerrard etc etc some of the best players available to him and still failed big time.
Rafa came in and got off to a slow start, he still managed to go unbeaten in the last 5 games of the season with a squad that was shot of confidence…..that’s the difference between class and shite
magscar
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:20 PM
Comment #14Laurent
OK – no issue here
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:21 PM
Comment #15Would like to get this lad for LB or LW role, happy judge isn’t happening…..made no sense at all!! Brighton game has got me a little nervous, it’s going to be very tough…..perfect time though to tap up knockaert Rafa
WWSBRD
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:24 PM
Comment #16Our Toon
How does Judge make no sense? Just because he’s injured?
JP...from The Rock
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:27 PM
Comment #17It’s all getting rather negative after the Cheltenahm game. No fit Strikers apart from Perez and Armstrong. Aarons out for another 2 months at least. Judge apparently not coming now, Bas Dost neither. Sissy still here!! Still no LB’ LW, CAM and ST.
We really got take our finger out and improve the team ASAP before it’s too late. There is only a week left in the window to fill those crucial positions before the long hard season ahead.
Fostino
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:30 PM
Comment #18People are beginning to panic.
magscar
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:30 PM
Comment #19Our Toon
What no one defending Carr has addressed is why were there players on his list that ought not to have been because the scouting should have revealed their unsuitibility for PL.
It doesn’t matter what operating model we believe was in play, whether they were cheap, on low wages because failing in PL means there is no increase in resale value and more importantly we end up with a transfer bottleneck which leads to subsidising loans out as clubs can’t afford to buy or match their wages.
Spoof
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:34 PM
Comment #20Our Toon
Carr should have had a shorter list and left off the dross at the bottom of the list, but he didn’t and they came from his list so he is to blame, know one forced Carr to put a name on the list, he done it willingly and whoever was at the bottom of that list should have been useful to us, but they weren’t so it was solely his fault.
If the club refused to go for those at the top of the list then adding players who weren’t good enough to the list is very poor from Carr and we should not look to defend a man who has repeatedly done exactly that.
He has a lot to answer too !
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:35 PM
Comment #21Wwsbrd
Yes just because he’s injured, his not back from injury until November, not back to match fitness until December (middle or back end) IF he doesn’t break down again.
Most players coming back from long term injuries pick up more niggling injuries prime examples are Rodriguez and Assambolonga, sometimes they never make it back to the level they were at.
In my eyes it makes no sense getting judge unless we want another sick note like de Jong to keep Aaron’s company in the treatment room
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:37 PM
Comment #22Spoof
What if Ashley also wanted the dross on the list, example out of that list what striker can we get for 5m or 6m……riviere!!
Without knowing the inner workings on how they decided on the list and who to pursue it’s hard to just so key point the finger at Carr
Jib
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:37 PM
Comment #23wynsleap // Aug 25, 2016 at 5:05 PM
Why are we still having injuries? I thought that Rafa was going to sort this out?
Ha ha ha
I love this blog !!!
Did you think he puts a force field around them!
I’d love to think you had a great sense of humour – but I fear you are serious.
😀
WWSBRD
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:37 PM
Comment #24Our chief scout should of come to the club with a list of 2/3 players and told the club them or nothing? Yup that’s realistic haha
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:39 PM
Comment #25Magscar
Veron was bought for 30m, forlan was bought for a lot of money, no scouting in the world will tell you if a player will succeed in a different country. Most scouts get it wrong when they don’t have limits and budgets nevermind about having them!!
magscar
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:41 PM
Comment #26Need to go but perhaps it is worth saying that IMO finding fault with Carr in no way absolves Ashley Charnley Pardew or other from their mistakes. He stands or falls on his own merit and I believe has been found wanting.
toon kk
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:41 PM
Comment #27Our toon
On your point of giving Carr the benefit of doubt, that is a point, no one really knows what restrictions he was under. Scouting older more experienced players might have changed his scouting. But you can’t get away from the point millions were wasted on flops, I don’t think MA would warrant that.
WWSBRD
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:42 PM
Comment #28Our Toon
He’s still a good player and we have no idea of the deal we are looking at. Personally if Rafa wants him then I’ve no problem with him coming in and being brought back to fitness with our club
Timeframe wise I agree it’s an odd one and I’d rather we got players coming straight into the starting 11 but ive enough faith in Rafa to trust him
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:43 PM
Comment #29Spoof
Don’t forget Ashley didn’t want cup runs, Europe and was happy with 10th to 16th, do you really think he was going to go after players at the top of carrs list?
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:48 PM
Comment #30Toon KK
Yes agreed mate we’ve wasted millions, we always have pre Ashley, I’ve not absolved Carr of blame but have said he can’t be held to account as the sole reason for failings.
Rumours at the time were that we didn’t want to stump up the cash for PEA, Alli etc etc. Penny pinched and got beaten to signatures because of such things. Payet didn’t fall in the under 25 bracket so cabella was the next choice and then thauvin.
Carr has his shortcomings though, like all scouts. For all we know he could have scouted the players that rafa has bought this summer!!
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:49 PM
Comment #31Wwsbrd
I’d like to have a fully fit judge with no injury concerns same with Assambolonga or Ings but if they don’t make immediate impacts on the pitch and sit in the treatment room then we have major issues
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:52 PM
Comment #32Leicester got a good group for CL
magscar
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:52 PM
Comment #33Our Toon
The first box any scout should be ticking is can said player cope with rigours of PL either immediately or with time. If the assesment is “unlikely” then the rest is immaterial.
There is a lot of money riding on these transfers and I cannot accept that some measure of how players will likely adapt is not paramount in their considerations. Yes some will be called wrong especially when players can’t settle but their football ability in relation to the PL should not be as difficult to assess. I don’t think Carr’s failures can be attriburted to failure to settle in area.
I don’t recall which scouts were involved in the transfers you mention ( funny how we all know Carr’s name and can’t name any others before him or elsewhere without recourse to Google) but suspect their records of successes exceed their failures or they wouldn’t last long at major clubs.
Spoof
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:53 PM
Comment #34Our Toon
Your totally missing the point, if Riviere or whichever player wasn’t on the list then Ashley would not have been able to say we’ll take him, the list should only had had names on who were capable of doing a job, no doubt Ashley would have chose the cheapest but if the cheapest wasn’t Riviere, if it was someone better then we would have got someone better, we can’t totally blame Ashley for this because as far as he was concerned he bought Riviere yes because he was the cheapest but also because Carr told him he was good enough, it really is that simple, if the dross weren’t on the list then Ashley would not have been in a position to sanction the purchase.
Excuse after excuse can be made but he is to blame over our recruitment.
Jib
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:55 PM
Comment #35Jeepers
Do some of you lot save your posts and just repost them every 2 months ?
Talk about Deja freakin’ Vu
Our Toon
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:55 PM
Comment #36Magscar
I’d say more scouts get it wrong than right especially when working with a budget, Leicester got it massively right but then they went for a good manager
toon kk
Aug 25, 2016 at 5:59 PM
Comment #37Spoof
You have a point, alot other names should never of been on Carr scouting list in the first place. Far better cheaper options would have been available in the championship for a start.
magscar
Aug 25, 2016 at 6:03 PM
Comment #38Our Toon
I think as Jib says many have been around the houses before with this disagreement . No one seems to be altering their view on Carr and as Rafa is now the man who says yes (or no) on transfers it is redundant as his power ( whatever you percieve it to be) has undoubtedly waned.
With that thought evening all, must go 🙂
Mr Funk
Aug 25, 2016 at 6:03 PM
Comment #39Just a quick point Alan Judge has had 2 injuries over the course of his career ( according to transfermarkt). A knee injury and a broken leg. I would say that does not qualify him as a sick note.
Also, been linked to Atsu from Chelsea – a good option?
WWSBRD
Aug 25, 2016 at 6:05 PM
Comment #40Our Toon
True but clubs have to take risks at times so it depends where the club are at with him, I have no idea what’s his fitness level these days so I’ve no idea if the club want him now or are setting up a deal for January (which was muted by a few outlets)