TROUBLED Middlesbrough star Paul Gascoigne has been dealt a new blow after Norwegian side Valerenga snubbed the chance to take him on loan.

Midfielder Gascoigne is desperately trying to regain full fitness after nearly five months without a competitive game.

The errant Geordie hasn't played since breaking his arm with a reckless challenge on Aston Villa's George Boateng.

Manager Bryan Robson admitted towards the end of last season that Boro were hoping to arrange a summer loan move for Gascoigne to a Scandinavian club in a bid to restore him to match fitness.

But just weeks after Finnish outfit FC Jokerit rejected the opportunity to offer 33-year-old Gascoigne temporary terms, Valerenga have refused to throw him a loan lifeline.

Gascoigne's agent, Mel Stein, contacted the Oslo club, but Valerenga chief Morten Grodhal insisted: "We have enough challenges as it is. We are not a summer rehabilitation centre.

"We will have to try to draw our own audience with other means. There are already quite a few characters at the club.''

Valerenga's director of football, Jostein Johannesen, added: "We are trying to run this club with long-term goals. Taking him (Gascoigne) on loan would be the opposite.''

Gascoigne's future on Teesside is the subject of intense debate following reports that he failed to attend a meeting last week with manager Bryan Robson, chief executive Keith Lamb and Stein.

l FORMER Boro boss Lennie Lawrence has left Luton after the club's new owners decided a fresh approach was needed if success was to be achieved next season.

Lawrence, who took over the Kenilworth Road hotseat in December 1995, has departed after accepting a financial package offered by the board under new chairman Mike Watson-Challis.