Former Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri looks set to become the new head coach at Lazio, returning to work after a year off following his sacking at Juventus last summer. Sarri’s set to replace Simone Inzaghi, who’s gone to Inter to replace Antonio Conte, whose job opportunities appear to be running out (stay away from Spurs please).
In any case, Sarri’s appointment is close enough to becoming reality that it’s time to start drawing up the usual stories about transfer targets and priority signings, and apparently for Sarri, one of the very first players on that list is Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
According to Gianluca Di Marzio, the midfielder is the first reinforcement being asked for by Sarri, with Lazio most likely looking for a loan-to-buy deal from Chelsea, as is customary.
Loftus-Cheek spent an okay-ish season on loan at Fulham last season, scoring just the one goal in 30+ appearances. That was nowhere near enough to save our neighbors from relegation, but it was a solid step in the right direction for the big man following his devastating Achilles injury — though still a far cry from his best season as a professional, which came during Sarri’s time in charge in 2018-19 (and ended prematurely in the aforementioned injury just prior to us winning the Europa League final).
RLC does have three more years left on his contract and he’s supposedly one of the players Thomas Tuchel wants to take a look at this summer before deciding his fate. Ideally, Ruben would rediscover his form of two years ago and resume his development at Chelsea, but if that’s not on the cards, a reunion with Sarri in Italy may not be the worst thing.
#Calciomercato | La #Lazio e #Sarri sempre più vicini: per il centrocampo c'è #LoftusCheek nel mirino https://t.co/xhqZI5D0ZS
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) June 7, 2021