Lazio have joined Leicester City and Eintracht Frankfurt in their interest of AC Milan-owned midfielder Tommaso Pobega.
According to a report from Italian media outlet La Lazio Siamo Noi earlier today, the 21-year-old Italian has impressed this season whilst on loan with Spezia, attracting the attention of the three clubs.
Pobega joined Spezia on a loan deal with a buy option attached, but Milan have a counter-buy option, so the Rossoneri could look to immediately re-purchase and sell him onwards, profiting both teams in the process.
The 21-year-old Pobega is a similar player to Lazio veteran Marco Parolo, whose contract expires with the Roman club at the end of this season. The young Italian midfielder is a mezzala who combines quality and quantity and can transition up the pitch very well.
Lazio’s midfield is very crowded currently, with seven players fighting for three starting spots, eight if you include Manchester United owned Andreas Pereira as well.
The Biancocelesti are open to rejuvenating the midfield department though. Parolo may not receive a contract renewal, Danilo Cataldi is not unsellable and even both Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro and Gonzalo Escalante are available if the right offer arrives.
Escalante signed on a free transfer last summer and even an offer of around €5-6 million would be enough, as that would be an excellent source of capital gain for the Biancocelesti.
Considering the state currently of Lazio’s midfield, Pobega would fit well into the fluid context and would be able to play multiple roles in the centre of the pitch.
The 21-year-old Pobega has made 16 appearances in Serie A so far this season, for a total of 960 minutes. In that time, he has scored three goals, being one of the strengths of Vincenzo Italiano’s side.
Looking at the statistics, the young Italian midfielder registers similar numbers to West Ham’s breakout star Tomáš Souček. Both players have an expected assists (xA) per 90 minutes average of 0.05, with their expected goals (xG) per 90 being 0.16 for the Italian and 0.23 for the Czech.
Pobega’s shot-creating actions per 90 is even a little higher than Souček’s, being 1.23 to 1.19 respectively. The 21-year-old Italian’s 76.7% pass completion rate is also higher than the 26-year-old Czech’s 74.2%.
Milan will have to decide whether they’re interested in bringing the player back to Milanello and keeping him, or selling him in order to fund other transfer targets.
Lazio are closely monitoring the situation at the moment and have requested information, but have not yet made a decisive move. This could change in the next few weeks and the Biancocelesti could decide to make Pobega a solid transfer target.
