When Valentino Lazaro’s agent was sat in the stands at St James’ Park for the club’s ecstatic 1-0 win over Chelsea, it looked pretty sure that he would be joining.
Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla released an exclusive around a week ago suggesting that he was set to join Newcastle on a loan spell, yet latest reports look much more bleak for Toon fans.
Despite the agent being present for the match, he was quick to say afterwards that no agreement had been made with the Premier League side, as well as say that there are a host of other teams interested, most notably the side sat at the top of the Bundesliga, RB Leipzig.
Now, according to Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness), it is a two-horse race – and Lazaro would prefer the option of moving back to Germany and playing for the league leaders rather than playing in North East England.
The Italian outlet claims that the Austrian international is keen to return to play in the league where he has ‘good memories’, after managing to secure a move to Inter after a great spell at Hertha Berlin.
Who would you most like to see join?
Bowen
Calhanoglu
Lookman
Lazaro
So far this season, Lazaro has featured 11 times in all competitions for I Nerazzurri, collecting just 513 minutes of football under his belt – not what he would have been hoping for when he made the move to Serie A in the summer.
His stats the season prior were much more impressive. The player recorded seven assists and scored on three occasions in the Bundesliga last year in 31 appearances, so you can see why Leipzig would want to take a player who caused so many problems last year in a variety of different positions up and down the right flank.
With reports suggesting that Lazaro fancies Leipzig more than the Magpies, who can blame him? Leipzig currently sit four points clear of Bayern Munich at the top of the German top-tier, while Newcastle are in 13th in the Premier League.