Posted on Thursday, 2nd February 2012 by Ben Lally

As the January transfer window opened, fans were unsurprisingly very curious as to who may arrive. Rumours started to surface in early December, as numerous names were linked with a possible move to Rome.

Up until deadline day, the Biancoceleste had only sealed a deal for Uruguayan striker Emiliano Alfaro. had returned to former club Genoa and with key figures still side lined through injury, it was clear Lazio needed reinforcements.

stated in a press conference that he had asked for a midfielder and another striker to add to his precariously thin squad. The request was not unexpected when it was clear the Biancoceleste were lacking in depth.

Whilst Sporting Director Igli Tare went to work, fans waited anxiously as to who may sign. A deal for CSKA Moscow’s was thought to have been done but it was not to be, and to everybody’s surprise the move broke down.

Tare then turned his attention to Villarreal frontman , who was said to be interested in a move to the Capital. But as time ticked away ,it seemed impossible to strike a deal with the Brazilian. It appeared Lazio had set their sights on Honda, without having any sort of back up plan in place should the Japanese player fail to agree terms.

As the end of deadline day approached it seemed as though more and more of the rumours were nothing more than just that.  Instead, Lazio had waved ‘arrivederci’ to summer signing who moved to QPR, and numerous fringe players including Simone Del Nero (loan to ) and reserve goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizzo (offloaded to ).

Finally, Lazio managed to secure the services of midfield man, . Not what everybody was expecting, and especially not considering the twenty-four year old is a life long AS Roma fan. It is unknown how many players Tare was in talks with, but surely with better preparation Lazio could have sealed moves for some key players to join the club.

The transfer market is a pivotal point in each clubs’ season. You have the first half of the campaign to identify where you need to strengthen, ready for the second half. With Reja’s squad currently riddled with injuries, new faces were crucial. With Alfaro on the side lines, recent transfer activity has left the tactician with just two strikers to pick from in and Miroslav Klose.

Some sympathy must go out to Reja as seven players left the club and only two arrived. Before the transfer window opened, it was evident that Lazio’s squad was already stretched to breaking point, and the fans certainly expected players to arrive if the club harboured ambitions for a Champions league place. Instead the faithful were incensed as to the club’s conduct throughtout this period of transfer activity.

Could this be nail in the coffin for Lazio’s season? After a hugely disappointing window, finishing higher than last year’s fifth place could be challenging. For president Claudio Lotito to appease the fans he will have to spend big in the summer. It is evident that funds are available considering they were close to securing a 14 million euro move for Keisuke Honda and the 5 million euros generated from the sale of Djibril Cisse. The cash for a spending spree in the next window appears to have been already generated.

Although time was against the Biancoceleste on deadline day, Lotito and Tare only have themselves to blame. Perhaps the coach will continue his path to a top three finish with the players he has got, but until the players that are on Lazio’s casualty list start to return it leaves Reja with a major task on his hands, from now until the end of the season.
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Ben LallyAuthor Ben Lally  (48 Posts)

I have loved Serie A since the days of James Richardson and Football Italia. I am 24, from Leicester, England and support S.S Lazio. I like spending time with my Fiancee and Daughter aswell as watching as much football as possible. Also a big fan of the Azzuri and anything Italian really. My favourite player of all time is Roberto Baggio, closely followed by Paulo Di Canio.


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Posted in Features, Lazio | Comments (2)

2 Responses to “Lazio Club Focus: How did the Biancocelesti do in the January transfer window?”

  1. Rich Says:
    February 3rd, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    good to get sculli and cisse off the wage bill and the rest of the players who left extremly dissapointed we didnt get honda as we really could have done with the extra dimension he would have added hopefully we will get him in the summer. Nice article Ben am liking all the good shit that is going on at Lazio Land as well I didnt think anything like that existed til i read one of ur articles here.

  2. Ben Lally Ben Lally Says:
    February 4th, 2012 at 9:25 am

    Thanks Alot Rich. Yeah Lazioland is a very useful website.

    As you say it is nice we trimmed down a little, just dont think they planned well enough for not signing Honda and selling Cisse which has left us short in attack, especially as Klose missed the Milan game.

    Nice to see some Primavera players in contention though so the future looks bright. FORZA LAZIO

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