Another Transfer Window has come and gone, and once again, Lazio’s supporters have been left disappointed by the lack of ambition by the club.
Heading into the January Transfer Window, it was known that Lazio required sales to be able to sign reinforcements for Maurizio Sarri, as the liquidity index was preventing the club from spending money. This is why, despite being linked to numerous players, supporters knew that deals had a very low probability of occurring until players out of the project departed.
Lazio has made poor transfer decisions over the past three years, and many are pointing fingers at Sporting Director Igli Tare, the one in charge of the operations. Many are even calling for his resignation, as things were supposed to change when Sarri arrived at the club this past summer; however, it has been more or less the same, with failed transfers continuing to rack up, and promises not being met.
On Transfer Deadline Day, there was radio silence on the Lazio transfer front. Despite sending a few players away on loan throughout the month and up to January 31st, nothing was being reported.
However, with just a few hours remaining, news broke that the club had set their eyes on Sporting Lisbon‘s Jovane Cabral. Despite winning the race against time and finalizing the deal for the player, this was not enough to satisfy fans or Sarri, who reportedly did not even want the Cape Verde international. This proves that none of the manager’s demands were met.
The only other player that was added to the squad was Dimitrije Kamenovic; the 21-year-old Serbian left-back who was signed this past summer, but was not registered as he failed to impress Sarri. And to be fair to him, he has the right to make that call, as the defender only has 56 senior appearances under his belt with a mid-tier club in the Serbian top-flight.
With Laziali searching for positive from this past month, something that could be intriguing to them is another club that had a very poor transfer window; Lazio’s upcoming UEFA Europa League opponents, FC Porto.
The Portuguese side essentially lost their entire starting attack. Colombia international and left-winger Luis Diaz (who was the club’s top scorer this season) left for Liverpool, while Mexico international and right-winger Jesus Corona left for Sevilla (as his contract was expiring and he did not want to extend his stay at the club). Furthermore, they lost arguably their most influential central midfielder in Sergio Oliveira earlier in January, who joined Lazio’s rival Roma.
As Porto manager and former Lazio player Sergio Conceicao recently said in an interview, as a result of these three departures, it will be difficult to achieve their goals this season; one of which is progressing in the Europa League.
Despite Lazio not having a productive and effective transfer window, while defeating Porto seemed like a difficult task a few months ago, their chances have now increased drastically.
