Lazio director Angelo Mariano Fabiani confirms they are not interested in James Rodriguez, names the offer made to Mason Greenwood, rejects Girona’s Taty Castellanos bid and hints at Barcelona’s Vitor Roque.
The Biancocelesti have been quite active this summer, picking up Loum Tchaouna from Salernitana, Tijjani Noslin of Verona, Hatayspor midfielder Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Nuno Tavares from Arsenal and free agents Gaetano Castrovilli and Gabriele Artistico.
However, there were also deals that did not go through, most notably when Greenwood went from Manchester United to Olympique Marseille instead.
“We offered £22m to buy 50 per cent of the player, but he preferred a different path,” director of sport Fabiani told Lazio Style Channel.
“I want players who love the place they are working in. I always say the best deals are the ones you don’t do.”
Lazio not interested in James Rodriguez
There were reports over the last few days that Colombia international James Rodriguez had been proposed to the Aquile as a free agent by representative Jorge Mendes after leaving Sao Paolo.
“He is 33 years old, in recent years he never managed more than 12 or 13 games per year. The Copa America performances were fairly good, but the new approach for us is based on young players. Signing him for one or two years would be against all logic, so we prefer to make other choices.”
That also includes keeping hold of striker Taty Castellanos, who has attracted interest from a Girona FC side who just sold Artem Dovbyk to Roma.
“An offer arrived for Castellanos, but we rejected it outright. If an offer we can’t refuse comes in, then we’ll evaluate it, but the economic proposal was not enough to let him leave.”
The next main target for Lazio is expected to be Vitor Roque, a 19-year-old centre-forward who cost Barcelona €40m in January to pick up from Athletico Paranaense, but risks breaking their financial fair play requirements.
The idea would be to get him on loan with option to buy, but naturally the Blaugrana are eager to get hard cash.
The fact Clubs are still employing Greenwood is disgusting.
Maybe, but we wanted to sign him.
We should go for someone of Rodrigues calibre because we lost a ton of tehnique with Mago, SMS, F Anderson and Ciro .. so Lazio must bring in a quality creative midfielder because Goundozi there is an experiment and too much pressure. Yes he has to score more but from his own position. Lotito move quick mate