A number of Newcastle United supporters have been venting their frustrations over Steve Bruce’s handling of Valentino Lazaro during his loan spell at St James’ Park after recent footage of the 24-year-old emerged on social media.
Lazaro spent the second half of last season on loan at Newcastle from Inter Milan, with the versatile 24-year-old operating at both right-back and on the right-hand side of midfield for the Magpies in his 13 Premier League appearances. However, only four of those appearances were starts, meaning he spent an average of just 39 minutes on the field per game (Sofascore).
The Austrian managed to show some of his potential attacking qualities by registering two goals for the Magpies at West Brom in the FA Cup and in their 4-1 demolition of Bournemouth in the Premier League. He also averaged 0.6 successful dribbles per game despite his limited time on the pitch (Sofascore).
Newcastle made the decision not to try and sign Lazaro again in the summer, and the 24-year-old has instead made another loan move to Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach. Footage has now emerged of a stunning scorpion-kick goal he scored for his new club against Bayer Leverkusen, which could be a Goal of the Season contender.
Newcastle fans react to Lazaro stunner
Many Newcastle fans displayed their bemusement over Bruce’s handling of the 24-year-old, pointing out that the manager did not spot his apparent talents and instead allowed him to leave the club after only a brief spell.
One fan called his goal “insane” while another commented that Borussia Mönchengladbach manager Marco Rose “makes him look like Messi” in comparison to Bruce:
https://twitter.com/bbnufc/status/1325515763122401290
Looked class but Bruce refused to play him
— carl annan (@carl1707) November 8, 2020
Skilful and class going forward. Definitely not what we needed according to Bruce ?♂️
— LL1985 (@LiamL1985) November 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/Andybiotics87/status/1325515550169026561?s=19
Not good enough for Bruce https://t.co/zuzwF90mnJ
— TheStottyDog (@TheStottyDog) November 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/ETRSteve/status/1325526328037285888?s=19
Should never have let him go, quality player. Shows Bruce,s judgement on players.
— malcolm bewick (@BewickMalcolm) November 8, 2020
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