A massive revolution was expected and a massive revolution took place.
Lazio needed an injection of new life after the disappointing previous season. The lack of hunger in the team was rather obvious as shown by the departure of three of Lazio’s greatest players of the past years: Ciro Immobile, Felipe Anderson and Luis Alberto.
Manager Igor Tudor preferred to resign since he probably wanted a much bigger change to the squad than was initially planned so a new manager was called up: Marco Baroni. This plus a number of new players make the Biancocelesti a rather unknown variable in Serie A since nobody can really predict how far they can go.
New Financial Fair Play regulations
UEFA has decreed that clubs are subject to a squad cost rule to apply better control over player wages and transfer costs. This means that for the 2024-25 season there is a spending limit on player and coach wages, transfers and agent fees to 80% of club revenue. Next season it will be 70%. Any breaches will translate into financial penalties and other sporting measures.
As a consequence Lazio had to cut costs and this explains the big changes that have taken place.
New Manager
Marco Baroni has had a longer career both as defender as well as a manager. He was a product of the Fiorentina youth sector and went on to play 556 professional games with 35 goals. He won a scudetto and a Supercoppa with Napoli in 1989-90 and played for Roma for a season in 1986-87 under Sven-Goran Eriksson. As a manager he started with Rondinella in 2000, coached the Juventus Primavera between 2011-13 and was then manager for Lecce from 2021-23, causing a lot of headaches for Lazio. Last year he was at Verona. During the winter transfer window the club sold most of his best players but he still managed to avoid relegation. He is considered a very good manager by many of his colleagues.
New Players
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru: Born in Lagos, Nigeria on February 6 2001, he moved to the UK at a very early age. He is a product of the Manchester City youth teams and played for Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship and League One (second and third tier). Last year he played in Turkey with Hatayspor. Dele-Bashiru is a midfield player who can play both in front of the defence as well as behind the forwards. Strong right foot, he is a very physical player. He also has two caps with Nigeria.
Tijani Noslin was born in Amsterdam on July 7 1999. He started playing professionally for USV Hercules in the Dutch third tier and in 2020 signed for DHSC Utrecht in the fourth division. In 2021 he moved to Fortuna Sittard where he played for two-and-a-half seasons with 71 appearances and 10 goals. In January 2024 he came to Italy to play for Verona under Baroni. Thanks to his five goals and four assists Verona managed to stay in Serie A and on June 30 he was bought by Lazio. He is a right winger who can also play as centre forward.
Boulaye Dia was born on November 16 1996 at Oyonnax. He is a Senegalese forward with a French passport. He debuted professionally for Stade Reims and in 2021 signed for Villareal where he made 25 appearances with 5 goals. In 2022 he moved to Salernitana. After a first season with 33 appearances and 16 goals he started to have a few problems with the club. Contacted towards the end of the transfer window by Wolverhampton, the English club made an offer that, due to the limited time to substitute him, Salernitana refused. This created tension and the player was suspended by the club for 5 games and had a wage cut. In March in the match against Udinese, manager Fabio Liverani asked him to warm up because he was going in. Dia was perplexed since unlike other players he had not been warming up at all. The manager took this as a refusal to go in. The club then suspended him for the rest of the season. Dia has always proclaimed his innocence. He is an excellent, skilful centre forward, powerful and fast. He also has 28 caps, and six goals, with Senegal. He arrives on a two-year loan with an obligatory buyout following certain conditions.
Loum Tchaouna is considered one of the best signings. Born in N'Djamena in Chad on September 8, 2003, at a very early age his family moved to France. He started playing football for the Rennes youth teams and debuted in the first team on September 26, 2021, in a draw with Bordeaux. In 2022 he was loaned to Dijon in Ligue 2 where he made 29 appearances and 2 goals. In 2023 he signed for Salernitana and despite the fact that the team was weak and finished last in Serie A, he was considered one of the more positive players with 35 appearances and six goals. On July 1 2024 he signed for Lazio. He is a forward who can play on either wing and even centre forward if necessary. Very powerful and with good skills, he is also very quick. He has a number of caps for France at all youth levels: Under 16s, 17s, 19s and 20s.
Gaetano Castrovilli: Born on February 17, 1997, at Canosa di Puglia, he grew up in the youth teams of Bari where he started playing professionally. He made 12 appearances between 2014 and February 2017, also playing for the Primavera team. He then signed for Fiorentina and after a few months was loaned to Cremonese for two seasons. Between 2017 and 2019 he played 55 games with 5 goals in Serie B before returning to Fiorentina in 2019. He played in Florence for five seasons but the last three were marred by injuries. After 131 appearances and 14 goals, at the end of his contract he did not renew and on July 19 2024 he signed for Lazio. Castrovillari is a modern number 10, fast, agile, good dribbler. He has 4 caps with Italy and was part of the squad that won Euro 2020 where he played the first game against Wales. Having had limited playing time in the last couple of years however there is a big question mark over his medical history.
Nuno Tavares was born in Lisbon on January 26, 2000. He played for a number of youth teams (Sporting Lisbon and Casa Pia) before moving to Benfica where, after playing for the B side, he debuted professionally in 2019. In 2021 he signed for Arsenal. In his first year he played 28 games with one goal and was then loaned to Olympique Marseilles in 2022. After a successful season in France (39 appearances with 6 goals), in 2023 he was loaned out again, this time to Nottingham Forest. He played very rarely (just 12 matches) and on July 15 2024 signed for Lazio on loan with an obligation to buy. Tavares is a very powerful left back with good skills.
Samuel Gigot was the last minute surprise purchase taking the place of Nicolò Casale. Born in Avignon on October 12, 1993, he started his professional career with Arles Avignon in the French second tier in 2013 where he stayed for two years playing 40 games with 4 goals. He then played 18 months for Kortrijk in Belgium with 52 appearances and two goals. In January 2017 he joined rivals Gent and stayed for another year-and-a-half. In 2018 he signed for Spartak Moscow where he played for four seasons with 110 matches and 10 goals. In 2022 he joined Olympique Marseille and became captain of the team. With the arrival of new manager Roberto De Zerbi he was put on the transfer list. He signed for Lazio on August 30, 2024. He is a central defender, very tall, very physical, who also likes to score.
Cristo Munoz is a very young (19) Spanish midfielder coming from the Barcelona youth team. He signed his first professional contract in 2021. He is very highly considered and arrived at Lazio as a free agent. He will play for the Primavera but Baroni will certainly keep an eye on his progress.
Gabriele Artistico is a centre forward born in 2002. He grew up in the Parma youth sector and last year played for Virtus Francavilla in Serie C. He arrived as a free agent and was immediately loaned out to Juve Stabia.
Goodbye … maybe
Luigi Sepe arrived last year on loan from Salernitana to be second goalkeeper but in the end, due to the explosion of Christos Mandas, became third keeper. He never played for Lazio last season and went back to Salerno.
Felipe Anderson at the end of the 2023-24 season, decided not to renew his contract and signed for Palmeiras. He leaves after 326 appearances, 149 of these consecutive, and 58 goals.
Daichi Kamada arrived last season and under Maurizio Sarri was plain terrible. A fish out of water, he seemed not to know what to do on the pitch. With the arrival of new coach Igor Tudor, he finally showed the quality he was known for. He had signed a contract for just one year with the option of renewal for two. Everybody expected him to stay, but when his agents did not trigger the clause and asked for another annual contract, Lazio said no. He signed for Crystal Palace. Last season he played 38 games with 2 goals.
Luis Alberto: 2023-24 was not a good season for Lazio and not a good one for Luis Alberto either. The Biancocelesti struggled all year and he only rarely showed his quality. After the game against Salernitana he announced that he was going to leave the club despite having had his contract renewed during the previous summer. After a little resistance from the club, he was sold to Al-Duhail Sports Club. He leaves Lazio after 307 appearances and 52 goals.
Ciro Immobile: Despite looking eager to start a new season with Lazio, when Besiktas made him an offer, he decided to accept and leave. He has struggled in the last couple of seasons with injuries and getting back into form and has not been as lethal as in the past. He leaves Lazio after 340 games and 207 goals.
Luis Maximiano: In August 2023 he was loaned to Almeria for a year with a buyout obligation. Despite the club's relegation, Almeria activated the buyout and he joined the Spanish club permanently.
Marcos Antônio arrived at Lazio in 2022-23. He did not do too badly but he seemed to be a little lightweight for Serie A. He had difficulty in setting in and had a few injuries. Despite a very promising pre-season, Maurizio Sarri often preferred Danilo Cataldi and Matias Vecino as central midfielder in his classic 4-3-3, so the Brazilian was not used as much as he could have been. In 2023 he was loaned to PAOK but suffered a serious injury hence made only 11 appearances with one goal. He will now play for Săo Paulo, again on loan, with an obligation to buy following a number of conditions.
Matteo Cancellieri: Last season he was on loan at Empoli and did rather well. Back at Lazio for the pre-season training, the club then decided to send him out on loan again, this time to Parma.
Sana Fernandes is one of the stars of the Primavera team. A true talent (and it is a wonder he has not had any first eleven playing time), he was loaned to NAC Breda in Holland where it is hoped he will be able to show how good he is.
Raul Moro: In 2023 he was loaned to Real Valladolid with an option to buy at the end of the season. He made 31 appearances, and two goals, contributing to their promotion to La Liga. In June 2024 the Spanish club triggered the buyout option and he signed a four year contract.
Mohamed Fares: Last year he was loaned to Brescia in Serie B and made 16 appearances. He has been loaned out again to top tier Greek team Panserraïkos.
Danilo Cataldi: On the last day of the transfer window of 2024 he left for Fiorentina on loan with option to buy. A sudden and surprising decision by Lazio, apparently due by his bad attitude to Igor Tudor last season and by the fact that with the decision to play 4-2-3-1, there was no space for him on the team.
Nicolò Casale: Despite having played, not very well, the first two games of the season, Casale was loaned out to Bologna on the last day of the mercato. After a very positive first year at Lazio, last year had been disastrous. It has been claimed that the false rumor that he was betting on Serie A games had a deep psychological effect on him. It is hoped that he can recharge his enthusiasm at Bologna and come back to his previous levels.
In conclusion
A number of interesting players have arrived and will substitute others that had probably lost motivation. Costs have also been successfully reduced.
But Lazio still has not managed to find a right back and hence forced to keep Manuel Lazzari and Adam Marusic who last year were pretty dire. And they still have not been able to sell Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro, Toma Basic nor Elseid Hysaj who will not see the pitch much this season and have a cost.
Having just five midfield players, means that Baroni will certainly be playing with a 4-2-3-1 formation. One must just hope for no serious injuries.
However, only time will tell.
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