Newcastle United left back Achraf Lazaar has revealed what his international and club teammates told him about new Magpies boss Steve Bruce.
The Moroccan international was looking for some insight into what sort of manager he’d be facing after agreeing to join Sheffield Wednesday on loan in January, where Bruce was in charge.
Now he has shared what he was told: “Before I went to Sheffield Wednesday I talked about him with my team-mates in Morocco and some team-mates in England,” he said, as per the Shields Gazette.
“They talked so good about him. He’s helped a lot of people. He’s a great manager. I’m so happy to see him again and work with him, because I think he was one of the people who helped me a lot. I’m happy he signed for the club. I can’t wait to see him and to work again with him.”
OPINION
It’s no surprise that Lazaar is happy to see Bruce installed at St James’ Park, he’s probably one of the few people who is. The Moroccan’s career had very much stalled with Rafael Benitez in charge on Tyneside, and it took a loan spell with the Owls over the second half of last season to revitalise him. It wasn’t all plain sailing, indeed he suffered some frustrating injuries, but he was certainly given more of a chance at Hillsborough than he had been at Newcastle under Benitez. This isn’t the sort of comment that is going to endear the left back to a Magpies fan base who are furious that Bruce has been given the job, but what else is he going to say? The fact that he was told Bruce was a great guy and a good manager obviously helped him going into his Wednesday stint, and from his perspective those comments proved to be correct. Whether that will be enough for the former Sunderland boss to be successful with Newcastle very much remains to be seen, though.
