The Slave Camp at Lazio

By: Francesco | August 8th, 2008

This has been news in the calcio world recently. When Lazio first met up for pre-season training in mid-July, coach Delio Rossi made a list of players that did not fit into his plans for the coming season. These players are: Roberto Baronio (considered as a youngster to be the next great Italian midfielder, never happened), Simone Inzaghi (Pippo’s younger brother who has always been more technically gifted than Pippo, but not as successful), Massimo Mutarelli (a defensive midfielder who works hard all game, impressed at Palermo), Tommaso Berni (a young goalkeeper who was never given a chance), Alberto Quadri (another promising player as a youngster but has turned out to be an average player), and Guglielmo Stendardo (on loan at Juve last season, a decent defender who has also garnered interest from Milan and Inter).

So when the list of players of who would be taking part in pre-season training camp was posted, the names of these 6 players were not listed. While their teammates were off to the Italian Alps, these 6 players stayed back in Rome, and were told by the club that they were not part of the first team and had to train at Lazio’s Formello training ground by themselves with just Lazio’s athletic trainer Angelo Crialesi to look over them. In a recent interview Massimo Mutarelli said that he asked to rescind his contract, but has not received an answer yet. He said that the club has not even supplied them with equipment to train with, and it really is a scandalous situation. He said that Delio Rossi had not even told any of the players anything.

The only player that isn’t really fazed by all of this is Guglielmo Stendardo, who was expecting to leave this summer anyway, and has offers from various clubs. He also said that he has no intention to ask for his contract to be rescinded because he has an excellent rapport with Claudio Lotito. Stendardo is wanted by Bologna and was recently linked with Milan in the press. Another possible destination is his hometown club Napoli, who may trade defender Maurizio Domizzi (who has his own problems with Napoli) for him.

The main problem is that it’s almost mid-August and these players face the possibility of not finding a club at all. Lazio has really shown no desire to find them a club as well. Mutarelli is still waiting for his contract to be rescinded so he can be a free agent. Baronio has offers from clubs in Serie B and Valladolid in Spain but nothing is concrete yet. Tommaso Berni has a host of offers from Serie B clubs and may be the first to leave. Simone Inzaghi has scared many clubs away with his high salary (1.2 million per year) and therefore small clubs like Reggina who were interested are not interested unless he rescinds his contract. There was also a rumor that some MLS clubs were interested in Pippo’s younger brother. Alberto Quadri has an offer from Avellino in Serie B and Perugia in Lega Pro.

Yesterday the AIC (Italian Footballer Association) finally got involved releasing this statement:

«Enough, this has to stop, what you are doing to these 6 players is scandalous and not logical, but what is most important is that what you are doing to these players is not legitimate. We hope this is resolved quickly but if it’s not the club will have to be sanctioned in some way. It’s not true that we haven’t been following this horrible story. In fact lawyers of these players have contacted us and we are trying are best to resolve the situation. We hope that it will be resolved.»

So now the ball is in Lotito’s court. We’ll have to see what happens next in the days to come…

What do you think about Lazio’s “slave camp”? Post your thoughts in the comments section.