St. James' Park. (Photo by Jon Super - Pool/Getty Images)St. James' Park. (Photo by Jon Super - Pool/Getty Images)
St. James' Park. (Photo by Jon Super - Pool/Getty Images)

Newcastle United transfer news: Player agrees Toon exit, Target takes major pay cut to push deal through

It’s been a while coming, but Achraf Lazaar has finally left Newcastle United.

The Moroccan never really found his footing in the north east, and his departure was confirmed by the club on Thursday.

The defender made just 10 appearances for the first team at St. James’ Park, and spent loan spells with Benevento, Cosenza, and Sheffield Wednesday.

Where he ends up next could be quite a bit more illustrious, however.

According to Il Milanista, AC Milan are still keen on taking the 29-year-old to Serie A.

Lazaar was linked with the San Siro for much of last month, but a deal never materialised, and even though he is now a free agent, the path to a dream move may not be a simple one.

Ultimately, it depends on when his contract on Tyneside was terminated.

If it was before Monday’s transfer deadline, he is free to go wherever he wants. If it was after that cut-off point then he will have to wait until the summer transfer window to wrap up a switch.

Elsewhere, Newcastle hunt for midfield reinforcements was a much-publicised saga over the latter stages of the transfer window.

In the end, they snapped up Joe Willock from Arsenal on a loan deal, but another man they were linked with was Danish midfielder Lukas Lerager, as per BT.

The player was on the books at Genoa, and while he didn’t arrive in England, he did go on to seal an exit in the final hours of the market – moving to FC Copenhagen in his home country.

And according to Elekstra Bladet, he took a significant pay cut to make it happen.

His transfer is a loan with an option-to-buy – something which surely would have suited a cash-strapped Newcastle – but have the Magpies won out by landing Willock instead?

The stats would suggest so.

According to Wyscout, the Arsenal youngster has made 2.88 more dribbles per 90 minutes this season, as well as having a higher pass completion rate, and an xG that is three times higher than the Dane’s.

We’ve gathered the rest of today’s Premier League gossip below: