Why Newcastle United loaning out Florian Lejeune would be a smart move

According to the Shields Gazzette, Newcastle United centre-back Florian Lejeune looks set for a loan move to La Liga club Alaves after struggling for game time in the Premier League last season.

As per the report, Magpies boss Steve Bruce is ready to sanction a temporary exit for the 29-year-old as he looks to trim his squad. 

Profile

Born in Paris, Florian Lejeune started his professional career with Agde in the Championnat National before making his mark in Ligue 2 with Istres. The towering central defender subsequently earned a move to Villarreal but largely featured for the club’s reserve side.

The Frenchman returned to his homeland with Brest, where he won promotion and impressed in the top-flight before completing a move to Girona in the Spanish second-tier. Lejeune was snapped up by Eibar in the summer of 2016 and a hugely successful breakthrough season in the La Liga paved the way for a switch to Newcastle United the following year.

The 29-year-old made a positive start to his life at Tyneside under former manager Rafael Benitez, but things have gone downhill for him ever since he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament a couple of years ago. 

Lejeune’s involvement has been restricted to just 46 appearances across all competitions for Newcastle over the past three seasons. He partly recovered from his injury hell last term but wasn’t really afforded too many opportunities to re-establish himself, with the Frenchman starting only 4 times in the Premier League.

Lejeune needs a fresh start

Make no mistake, Florian Lejeune has been a quality centre-back in the Premier League whenever he has been fit. However, the main problem is that he has spent more time on the treatment table than on the pitch ever since he joined Newcastle back in 2017.

In fact, the Frenchman has missed as many as 46 games in all competitions for the Magpies since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, which pretty much sums up his struggles with recurrent injuries. 

He somewhat managed to keep himself free from injuries last season but with Paul Dummett, Ciaran Clark, Jamal Lascelles, Federico Fernandez and Fabian Schar all ahead of him in the pecking order, Lejeune didn’t get much of a look in from Bruce.

To sum it up, the 29-year-old doesn’t seem to be an integral part of the manager’s plans moving forward and it looks highly unlikely that he will be playing regularly next season. Newcastle already have enough competition for places at the back and Lejeune’s current position in the pecking order doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

Moreover, the Magpies have been linked with several new centre-backs like Guillermo Maripan, Marcao and Rob Holding this summer, with Bruce apparently aiming to reshuffle his backline. (h/t Chronicle Live)

With that in mind, Newcastle would need to move on at least one of their existing central defenders to make room for a new signing, and Lejeune’s poor injury record means that he seems the most likely to face the chop.

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Verdict

Rafael Benitez opted to keep faith in Florian Lejeune, despite all his struggles with injuries. However, Steve Bruce seems to have had enough of the injury-prone Frenchman, who still has a contract at St. James’ Park until the summer of 2022.

Lejeune needs to play every week to get his career back on track after recovering from an injury hell and that seems unlikely to happen at Newcastle. The Frenchman still has plenty of football remaining in him, so a loan move elsewhere should be a fair settlement for all parties.