Lazio sporting director Igli Tare reveals Miroslav Klose turned down a two-year renewal.

The German striker has left the Biancocelesti after five seasons, and it had been reported that the club had not offered him a new contract.

“It was my choice not to respond immediately, so as not to give too much importance to a controversy on the evening of a farewell to a great player who wore the Lazio shirt with honour,” Tare explained to Lazio Style Radio.

Lazio sporting director Igli Tare reveals Miroslav Klose turned down a two-year renewal.

The German striker has left the Biancocelesti after five seasons, and it had been reported that the club had not offered him a new contract.

“It was my choice not to respond immediately, so as not to give too much importance to a controversy on the evening of a farewell to a great player who wore the Lazio shirt with honour,” Tare explained to Lazio Style Radio.

“It’s important for me to clarify this now, the club doesn’t deserve all this criticism. When Klose arrived at Lazio we were criticised for taking a player who was almost finished, but it was the right choice.

“We knew the player and the professional, and we knew he’d bring added value. Thanks to Lazio he got to win the World Cup, and that makes us proud.

“At the same time, he’s given so much to Lazio in terms of his image and his way of conducting himself. That’s why I didn’t respond right away, to avoid other controversies. He’s someone who deserves that much.

“I went to talk to him before the match against Sparta Prague [in the Europa League], we’d been together for a long time and I offered him a renewal of two years, with the possibility of becoming a Lazio symbol even after the end of his playing career.

“He said ‘No thanks, I’ve already received an offer that I really like, it’s time to finish this fantastic adventure’.

“He told us that he’d communicate his choice at the end of the season. I insisted, but he wouldn’t consider the offer because he wanted to go back to Germany.

“I spoke to him again during the ritiro at Norcia, and he told me that the end of the season would be the right time to return home. He also had the chance last summer.

“We tried to honour his goodbye with a memorable evening.”

Tare then discussed the task of replacing Klose, as well as the club’s aims for the upcoming transfer market.

“We’ll look for a striker with some history behind him. Replacing Klose is not easy, we know that. There are several options available, we’re evaluating them well.

“It’ll be a player who guarantees us double figures. I’d like to repeat though, that if we play as a team many players can get double figures, like happened last year with Felipe Anderson and the others.

“Last year we did important things, and that’s enough to make people understand the value of the players Lazio have.

“The defence? I’ve said before that we have to bring in at least one solid centre-back. With the return of [Stefan] De Vrij we’ll have an important reference point for the defence.

“Obviously he’s coming back after a long season out, so for the first few weeks we’ll be evaluating him at the training camp to determine his fitness.

“It’s not a simple injury, so he’ll be evaluated in the first few weeks of the training camp. We’ll be going to Auronzo for a long pre-season to lay the right foundations, and we’ll have international friendlies too.

“The transfer window? Italian football isn’t going through a good period, many prestigious teams have financial problems, and will have to make hard choices to save their balance sheets.

“I don’t expect major transfers, because Italian football lacks the resources.”

Bygaby

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector