Olympique Marseille are reprtedly interested in Mattia Zaccagni, and will try to test Lazio’s resolve in the summer.
Olympique Marseille Following Lazio Captain Mattia Zaccagni
The 30-year-old joined the Biancocelesti in 2021 after making his breakthrough at Hellas Verona. He became the club’s captain in 2024 following Ciro Immobile’s departure, and is widely considered the main source of inspiration at the club, especially following the departures of Luis Alberto, Felipe Anderson, and Sergej Milinkovic Savic.
Zaccagni is tied to Lazio with a contract valid until June 2029. But according to Sport.Fr, Marseille are interested in the winger’s services, identifying him as a potential replacement for former Sassuolo and Napoli man, Hamed Junior Traore, who’s facing an uncertain future in Southern France.
Marseille Facing Competition From Napoli for Zaccagni
As the French source explains, the Lazio skipper is admired by OM for his technical attributes as well as his leadership skills, which would make him a valuable asset in the locker room. This season, the Cesena native has only produced three goals and one assist, but these figures don’t truly reflect his capabilities, as it has been a challenging campaign for the player and Lazio as a whole.
In addition to Marseille, the report mentions long-standing interest from Napoli. Nevertheless, an experience in a foreign league could be more tempting for the player at this stage of his career.
Lazio Seeking at Least €15m to Part Ways with Zaccagni
Finally, Sport claims that Lazio have set their asking price at €15 million. It should be noted that Zaccagni is the club’s highest-paid player with a yearly net salary of €3 million alongside Alessio Romagnoli, who is expected to leave at the end of the season.
Therefore, Claudio Lotito and Angelo Fabiani could be enticed by the prospect of chop off the captain’s salary and replacing him with a younger profile who would command a more modest salary, as has been the trend at the club over the past few years.
I’m not sure if I like this idea. Zaccagni’s season has been a mixed bag, but recently he’s been playing great with Nuno.
I guess you can have Maldini replace Zaccagni on the left pending Sarri stays… but then who plays up top? Noslin and Dia are what they are at this point, and it wouldn’t make sense to sell them for a capital loss.
I hope Sarri experiments with Ratkov/Pryzborak more so Lazio gets a better idea of needs.
Definitely hear what you’re saying David. He adds something to the squad on top of being an Italian player and having experience. He is though on a high salary and I don’t think the club can afford this kind of salaries any longer. So getting rid of him and Romagnoli for a good capital gain, will significantly reduce the top earners. Tavares similar story with Hysaj going out.
Dia seemingly was injured when he arrived and never has been a consistent force or injury free. Selling him I believe to be a blessing as well. Noslin has talent and is young, but also definitely sellable. Ratkov if Lazio won’t start using proper wing play, we can loan out already as well. Pryzborak hopefully soon getting his change.
@Fausto, totally agree with you, but the trajectory is concerning. Lazio are one of the few Serie A clubs to keep an Italian identity, especially with clubs in the top 10. They’re regularly starting games with 5/6 Italian players in the lineup which is a rarity in Serie A.
Zaccagni and Romagnoli are scapegoats to Lazio’s mismanagement. Selling them further dilutes the league to foreign players. Not to mention both Romagnoli and Zaccagni are top 5 players for Lazio.
They’re both under contract as well which is good as Lazio have a lot of players coming off the books at the end of this season who they need to replace/resign (Pedro, Hysaj, Basic, Maldini, etc).
If Lazio is going to have a fire sale, I’d rather them look towards selling Nuno, Mandas, Gila, etc. while loaning Noslin out to (hopefully) get his market value back up above 16m. Even with the sell-on fees, this should be enough to register capital gains, especially with the incoming Pedrazza and the laundry list of free agent defenders they’ve been tracking.
Do you know is Diogo Leite reight or left footed?
I think they need to do both, in an ideal world with investments Lazio definitely keeps them. But for financial stability I’d say sell them off. Statistics are pretty dire, just responded to user Laziale on this post. And went over the wages vs worth. Which is what gives the embargo risk. Awful data.
@Fausto that data is extremely eye opening and Lotito should be embarrassed he let the financial state of the club reach this point.
However… We have to be careful what we wish for… Lazio must maintain a balanced squad in order to avoid relegation and keep it’s identity as an Italian club. If Lazio sells or chooses not to re-sign the majority of their starting lineup (Nuno, Zaccagni, Romagnoli, Gila, Basic, Maldini etc), they will most certainly be fighting for relegation next season. If Lazio gets relegated, their financial situation further worsens…
I don’t disagree that Lazio needs a full squad reset but trying to achieve this in one transfer window may ultimately sink the club. We also have to take into account the question marks surrounding Sarri, the fan protests, etc. Finding structure within the club would be a great first step before selling everything of value.
They’d be wise to employ a strong squad money manager like the previous reports on Sogliano. His track record also shows the importance of maintaining a squad balance, otherwise relegation is inevitable
He’ll be a Marseille benchwarmer, then end up at Inter or Milan.
Saya setuju, pemain ini dilepas, dia tidak terlalu bagus untuk Lazio yang adalah klub bagus. Banyak pemain muda yang lebih kreatif dan memiliki visi yang bagus di posisi sayap kanan dibandingkan dia, yang sudah mulai menua.
Bagi saya, dia tidak termasuk bagian Legend of Lazio
This is an English page about an Italian football club.
Free speech though . Just use translate if you’re interested bro, it’s not like he makes 10 posts every article
Saya setuju, pemain ini dilepas, dia tidak terlalu bagus untuk Lazio yang adalah klub bagus. Banyak pemain muda yang lebih kreatif dan memiliki visi yang bagus di posisi sayap kiri dibandingkan dia, yang sudah mulai menua.
Bagi saya, dia tidak termasuk bagian Legend of Lazio
Sell him and take the M15€. He’s too injury prone. I like him a lot, but age is starting to take its toll on him too.
Personally I wouldn’t cry for him leaving BUT we need a competent replacement and I believe after Taty and Guondozi this along Romagnoli would send Sarri out the door.
WE NEED A BLOODY PLAN and it starts with Lotito leaving!!!
totally agree with you
There’s the plan to build a new stadium. Lotito isn’t going to sell while that’s going on. First of all Lazio if they don’t relegate will be much more worth once that’s done. And also if he would sell it, that plan is basically dead in the water, what I’ve understood. So lets be realistic, that isn’t happening.
NO F@#$&+& WAY!!!!!!
If we are really going to play this game – that €3m for us are top high-earners that we have to off-load in order to ease the budget, then we have officially mid-table team mentality. Firmly outside of Top 10. Como, Bologna and Fiorentina already surpassed us in terms of ambition. We will be glad to keep pace with likes of Torino and Sassuolo. Province club. I though this is transition season and investments will come but it looks like this is our new era. Avoid relegation battle and once in 5 years make Europe league qualification and management will be happy.
“If we are really going to play this game – that €3m for us are top high-earners that we have to off-load in order to ease the budget, then we have officially mid-table team mentality. ”
Lets say you got an income of €2800,- a month of which 1600 goes to the rent of your house alone. Yet you have a lifestyle of lavishly spending trying to match your friends, who all have a way higher income and if things go south they can sell their real estate. Lazio has for years been living above their standard.
“Avoid relegation battle and once in 5 years make Europe league qualification and management will be happy.”
It isn’t about being happy, they didn’t comply with the financial rules of the league. Too high salaries compared to assets and income. With a totally not functioning youth system that brings in no talent to make it into the first squad, or to be sold. While Lotito has been terrible at selling players on a profit. The stadium brings way too less money into the club due to not being owned by Lazio and also not having the right facilities in comparison to newer stadiums.
So many clubs have gone bankrupt, to relegate and restart. Lazio needs to reset and start living healthy, which indeed means that survival is essential. It has been living on fast food and now needs a well balanced diet, to get back into shape.
“Firmly outside of Top 10. Como, Bologna and Fiorentina already surpassed us in terms of ambition.”
Como has one of the richest media conglomerates behind it and their squad is worth significantly more than Lazio while not having financial issues and paying a fraction of the salaries Lazio is paying for a better squad.
Bologna has had a terrible season but they also have a way better balanced worth vs spending than Lazio.
Lazio isn’t firmly outside the top 10, there are 7 teams that are very far to ahead of us. Than there’s Bologna that’s in a better overall position squad and finances but we can compete with, normally also Fiorentina joins it. But as it’s football a lot can happen.
Salary spending:
Inter: 141.5m
Juventus: 123m
Napoli: 110.1m
Roma: 107.5m
Milan: 104.5m
Lazio: 69.9m
Fiorentina: 60.8m
Atalanta: 57.9m
Como: 47.8m
Versus squad worth:
Lazio 10th position with 217million. Como literally spends almost 2/3rds while buying worth 351million so 161% worth with 67% salaries.
Bologna 275million squad worth (126%) with only 55% of Lazio’s wage spending.
These clubs are doing way better, reality isn’t fun I understand that. But Lazio has been led terrible for quite some time and is now paying for it.
Buying worth = squad worth at Como
Correct me but I believe what Lotito should do is take care of the Lazio assets as in: training facilities, stadium and organise the youth sector so we can actually make a profit on it and more importantly a youth product that can step up to the senior team. Also maybe he should start with signing a bloody shirt sponsor and so on..
Would you say that is more important that our DS is competent rather than Lotito(for the sporting achievement)? I mean that if Lotito is silent in the transfer and basically approved whatever the DS asks (not overspending etc, just go along with it) would we be on a better trajectory?
@Burky that would definitely help, which the recent reports are looking likely that Lazio is heavily weighing this route.
I’m hopeful that they sign Sogliano as his track record is excellent with managing funds through the transfer window.
Lazio’s 5 year goal should the stadium project while staying somewhat competitive and away from relegation territory to attract investments, and sponsors.
Sell Zaccagni for 15 million !!!!!!!??????????
We paid 17 million for the donkey Noslin that Sarri has a boner for!