Newcastle United news: Jamaal Lascelles’ move from Newcastle United to Leicester City on a short-term contract has been confirmed, ending his 12-year stay on Tyneside.
From the moment he stepped through the door on Tyneside until his very last day at the club, Jamaal Lascelles was a leader.
When his teammates folded around him, unable to cope with the pressure that their multi-million price tags demanded of them, Lascelles stood up, puffed out his chest and carried Newcastle United on his shoulders.
He shouldn’t have been anywhere near the top of the list to do such a thing when, after a damaging defeat to Southampton left them deep in relegation trouble, he questioned the ‘desire’ of some of his Newcastle United teammates.
“We need bigger characters on the pitch, players who care and who are going to get after each other,” a 23-year-old Lascellessaid in April 2016, less than a year after joining permanently from Nottingham Forest. “We have lacked it this season and no matter how good you are, if you don't have that fight and hunger and desire, it doesn't matter.”
Before adding: “We've got flair players, tricky players, players with loads of talent, but we need more heart, we need more desire.”
Lascelles had already led a dressing room inquest after a defeat to Crystal Palace and been caught by cameras ranting about his teammates as he was sent-off during a 3-0 defeat to Everton that season - but it was his quotes after the defeat at St Mary’s which really got people talking and really endeared him to the Newcastle United fan base.
With very little to rally around at that time, seeing a young player stand up for a club that, less than two years prior, he had no connection with, was something that supporters had been crying out for for years. Rafa Benitez, someone else that fans would rally around during a time of little communication and hope from above, would reward Lascelles with the captaincy ahead of their Championship winning campaign.
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Lascelles would hold that honour for just shy of ten years. From Championship to Champions League and a Carabao Cup win, Lascelles’ legacy on Tyneside should never, ever be underestimated.
Jamaal Lascelles’ Newcastle United legacy
Leader. That will be the word that most fans associate with Lascelles when they reflect on his time at the club.
Being captain of Newcastle United was not simply a role that Lascelles decoratively wore, it was one that he lived for 12 years and 253 appearances. Even at the end of his time on Tyneside, when injury issues prevented him from featuring in the first-team, Lascelles was always one to front-up to the difficult questions.
Following Newcastle United’s defeat to Brentford in November, a match that Lascelles was an unused substitute in, the defender spoke openly and honestly about his side’s struggles on the road. He didn’t have to do that, not many of his teammates that played that day did, but that is just his character.
Modern football means that characters like Lascelles who have more than a decade-long affiliation and success at one club simply don’t exist nearly as much as they should. He may have passed that mantle onto Bruno Guimaraes who will hopefully take this club into an exciting future era, but Lascelles will always be the man whom they needed to get them through the darkest of times.
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