They may have escaped a relegation battle on Tyneside, but Newcastle United duo Florian Lejeune and Yoshinori Muto are BOTH in the middle of their own fight for survival out in Spain.
Between them – Lejeune is at Alaves and Muto at Eibar – they have seen their new clubs pick up just TWO wins in the last 22 league games combined.
This torrid run for both La Liga sides has left them 16th (Alaves) and 17th (Eibar) in the table, with Muto’s side only out of the bottom three on goal difference and Lejeune’s Alaves just a point from the drop zone.
Not long ago, Lejeune was receiving rave reviews from several journalists out in Spain, was regularly coming away as Alaves’ highest rated defender on stat sites such as WhoScored.com and starred in a shock away win over Real Madrid, however his side have been leaking goals left, right and centre of late.
Mikel Merino’s Real Sociedad put four past him over the weekend, meaning only two clubs in La Liga have now conceded more than Alaves (38).
As for Muto, he’s getting slightly more regular game time, starting four of their last six games and bagged assists in a defeat to Atletico Madrid and draw with Celta Vigo.
That said, his side have won just ONE of their last 13 games and will almost certainly go down if this form continues – something that would all but end our hopes of Eibar signing him on a permanent deal this summer!
Elsewhere, fellow loan star Freddie Woodman is battling at the other end of the table, with his Swansea side set to move into the automatic play-off spots in the Championship should they win either of their two games in hand.
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