Luca Pellegrini has been cut from Lazio’s Serie A squad following the close of the January transfer window on Monday night, which has left his agent, Enzo Raiola, demanding answers from the club.
Serie A squads must have a maximum of 25 players, at least eight of whom must be homegrown. Clubs can also field an unlimited number of players aged 22 or under.
The Biancocelesti made three signings over the course of the January transfer window. Oliver Provstgaard and Reda Belahyane both joined on deadline day, while Arijon Ibrahimovic joined on loan from Bayern Munich earlier in the month.
All three of those players are under the age of 22, and therefore do not need to be included in the team’s Serie A squad list.
Pellegrini cut from Lazio Serie A squad list
However, even though they didn’t ‘need’ to trim down their 25-man first-team squad, Lazio have removed Pellegrini from their list, which means that he is no longer eligible to appear in league fixtures for the remainder of the season.
The club’s decision has left the player and his agent baffled, leading Raiola demanding an explanation from the club.
“We have also only learned of Luca Pellegrini’s exclusion from the list just now from the press. Given that there has been some purely invented news from some press organisations, I categorically exclude the possibility that the decision was taken for disciplinary reasons,” Raiola has said in a statement, reported via TMW.
He continued: “Luca has always been an exemplary professional and is always available to the first team group. The exclusion for the game away against Cagliari was due to a physical problem he encountered a few days before the squad announcement.
“We will ask for clarification from the club through the appropriate channels.”