Achraf Lazaar (; born 22 January 1992) is a Moroccan international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who last played as a

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPL Victoria or NPL VIC) is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer league syst ...

club

Preston Lions Preston Lions Football Club (formerly Preston Makedonia Soccer Club) is a semi-professional soccer club from Preston, a northern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club was established in 1947 to play non-professional soccer matche ...

Club career

Born in

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

, Lazaar moved to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

with his parents in 2003. He began his football career with

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

's youth system, at the age of fifteen. He went on to make his senior debut with the team in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, in 2012, immediately emerging as one of the most interesting prospects from the small Lombardian team. In January 2014, he was signed by top of

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, on loan with the option to make the move permanent by the end of the season. Initially signed as an understudy to the more experienced Fabio Daprelà, Lazaar immediately gained a starting spot thanks to his impressive performances. He was later permanently signed by Palermo and confirmed as part of the club's 2014–15 squad. On 28 August 2016, Lazaar joined

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

on a five-year deal. He made his debut in a 2–0 win in the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

on 20 September 2016. His league debut took place when he came on as a 72nd-minute substitute for

Yoan Gouffran Yoan Patrick Gouffran (born 25 May 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker or a winger. He was renowned for his pace and ability to finish with either foot. Club career Gouffran was born in Villeneuve-Saint-G ...

against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on 15 October 2016. On 31 August 2017 Lazaar returned to Italy with a loan to

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

. On 31 January 2019 Lazaar joined

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

on loan until the end of the season. On 2 September 2019, he joined Italian

club

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

on loan. On 4 February 2021, Lazaar and

mutually agreed to terminate his contract. On 11 February 2021, Lazaar signed for

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

on a deal until the end of the season, with an option to extend a further year. He left

at the end of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season following the expiration of his contract. Following his release from Watford, Lazaar went on trial with

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in July 2021. On 26 August 2021, he joined Portimonense in Portugal on a two-year contract. On 2 February 2023, he signed for

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

until the end of the 2022–23 season.

International career

Having been born in Morocco, Lazaar is eligible to play for

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

by birth, but until 2015 was ineligible to play for

despite having been raised there. He holds

Italian citizenship The primary law governing nationality of Italy is Law 91/1992, which came into force on 16 August 1992. Italy is a member state of the European Union (EU), and all Italian nationals are EU citizens. They are entitled to free movement rights ...

since April 2015. He had originally never stated a clear preference to represent Morocco or Italy, instead declaring he would play for the first international team that showed a genuine interest in calling him up. His impressive

performances with Palermo brought interest from the Moroccan national team, who called him up for a friendly match against

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

on 23 May 2014 and ended in a 4–0 win, during which he made his first senior international appearance.

Career statistics

References

External links

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Profile on Newcastle United website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazaar, Achraf 1992 births Living people Moroccan men's footballers Footballers from Casablanca Moroccan emigrants to Italy Naturalised citizens of Italy Morocco men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks SSD Varese Calcio players Palermo FC players Newcastle United F.C. players Benevento Calcio players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Cosenza Calcio players Watford F.C. players Portimonense S.C. players Novara FC players Al-Ittifaq FC (UAE) players Dubai City F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players English Football League players Primeira Liga players UAE First Division League players Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Italian people of Moroccan descent 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen