What is Up With Lazio?

By: Martha | December 31st, 2007

Rocchi n Pandev Tomasso Rocchi and Goran Pandev both joined Lazio in 2004. Since then, they’ve scored 95 goals between them, driving the club to a miracle (and, barring the draw with Real Madrid, disastrous) Champions League spot this year. At a club with a top salary of just €750,000, they both make €500,000 or less, and are understandably asking for more, demands that have stalled contact negotiations and started rumors that both could be on their ways out this summer. (As well as raising suspicions that Lazio president Claudio Lotito is either out of his mind or secretly wants to end up Serie B. Those live mostly in my brain, but what other explanation can there be?)

Rocchi may be 30 years old, but he’s an utter beast, and plays his heart out for Lazio every day — it’s hard to imagine any Italian team wouldn’t rather have him in their side than play against him. His current contract expires in 2009, but he’s talking about an extension (and a well-deserved raise) now, and Lazio apparently aren’t impressed by his demands. Not only that, but the striker was caught on camera snubbing Lotito when he tried to shake his hand after nine-man Lazio’s draw with Palermo last weekend — not exactly a sign of friendly, promising negotiations.

Pandev, meanwhile, is only 24 and has a ridiculous amount of talent; he’s scored 12 goals in all competitions this season, and looked frighteningly sharp against Juve in Lazio’s lost to the Old Lady early this month. Despite having a contract that runs through 2010, he’s already being tracked by Liverpool, Valencia and Bayern Munich, and is expected by most pundits in Italy to be leaving Lazio this summer. Whether this is because Lazio think they can’t afford him anymore or because of a Serie A deathwish is anyone’s guess, but Pandev told the press yesterday that things were progressing nicely with Bayern, to the point where he and his representatives have already had several meetings with the club, and talks regarding price were underway with Lazio. Or not — the club today have strenuously denied the reports, going so far as to threaten to end their relationship with any media outlet to report such “unsettling stories which have no foundation.” Huh. What’s that saying about protesting too much?

Unless these two are locker room cancer, or something, I cannot understand Lazio’s hard line. They make €500,000 (Pandev’s actually on €460,000), and score all the club’s damn goals. Why on earth would they not be willing to go through that salary cap for them, if only a little? Ok, maybe they feel like they can’t afford to keep Pandev — his youth and productivity make him a target for bigger, richer clubs — but Rocchi is 30, and is probably going to be seen as a bargain wherever he goes. I cannot comprehend why they wouldn’t pay the guy, assuming he’s not asking for something obscene. Losing both of them would be a complete disaster.