Newcastle United have a problem to solve with Ryan Fraser due to the player’s injury history says former West Ham and Celtic player Frank McAvennie, who also called the player a terrible professional.
The former striker was speaking to Football Insider about the Newcastle man and also commented on the time the 28-year-old refused to play for Bournemouth and lied to Scotland about his fitness.
The 62-year-old pundit said: “There was a fury when he left Bournemouth because he refused to play. Then you have the issues with Scotland when he lied about his injury but trained for Newcastle. You can’t be doing that, that’s terrible as a professional.”
The incident McAvennie is talking about is when Fraser refused to play for the Cherries in their fight for survival by not signing a short-term contract during the pandemic so he could avoid injury ahead of a summer move.
As for Scotland, Fraser pulled out of international duty after citing an injury but reported to Newcastle training days later.
Fraser is now back under the management of Eddie Howe and is enjoying a better spell during his second season at the club compared to his first.
Incidents like these will always be remembered by the football community but they should be left in the past, as Fraser tries to move on with his career.