After the number of players purchased last season, President Sergio Cragnotti worked on those areas where Lazio needed more quality and several players arrived.
Welcome
Luca Marchegiani was considered the best goalkeeper in Serie A and since the Biancocelesti needed a new goalkeeper, it was obvious that he was going to be the chosen one. Marchegiani had been playing, successfully, for Torino since 1988.
Paolo Negro was one of the Under 21s who had imposed himself at national level. So, like Cragnotti did last year with the Cremonese trio, the right back from Brescia arrived in Rome.
Luciano De Paola was one of those midfield players that are fundamental in breaking up the opposition’s game. He arrived at Lazio with high expectations but the rise to fame of Di Matteo, in a similar role, soon forced the club to send him to Atalanta. He had played for Brescia between 1990 and 1993. He made 11 appearances for the Biancocelesti.
Roberto Di Matteo was an unknown entity. A midfielder, he arrived from Aarau in the Swiss league. Holding an Italian passport, Di Matteo was an experiment, let's see what he can do.
Fabrizio Di Mauro, midfielder, was a former Roma player arriving from Fiorentina on loan. He did very well in Florence, and had played a few games for Italy.
Pierluigi Casiraghi, forward, was a product of the Monza youth sector who had been playing for Juventus since 1989. Not happy in Turin due to the limited playing time, he came to Lazio to cover for the departure of Riedle and while waiting for Boksic.
Alen Boksic, Croatian forward, was considered one of the best centre-forwards in Europe. Last season he won the Champions League with Olympique Marseille and Cragnotti had tried to get hold of him during the summer but managed to agree his signing only for the 1994-95 season.Then however, since Lazio were having problems up front, Cragnotti managed to anticipate his arrival in the autumn transfer window.
Goodbye
The need to make room for the new arrivals plus the general turnover as the Biancocelesti passed to better quality players meant that many old timers had to leave.
Many had predicted that Valerio Fiori would have been Lazio’s goalkeeper for all his career and in the beginning it certainly looked that way. But in recent years he became less consistent, so Dino Zoff last season decided to substitute him with veteran Nando Orsi. He did have one more chance to redeem himself but a blunder, which cost Lazio the victory in Coppa Italia, was the nail in the coffin for his stay with the Biancocelesti. He left for Cagliari after 130 appearances.
Flavio Roma was the goalkeeper of Mimmo Caso’ victorious Primavera team. He left to gain more playing time and was loaned to Mantova in Serie C1.
Angelo Gregucci was one of the protagonists of the -9 season and the return to Serie A. He was the last one of that team to leave. But with the arrival of all these new players, particularly in defence, it was time to say goodbye. He left for Torino after 212 appearances and 13 goals.
Giovanni Stroppa had a big impact when he came in 1991 but last season his first eleven appearances were fewer as the Biancocelesti, with the signing of Diego Fuser, had the right winger who could create and defend, and Stroppa was therefore not so necessary. In two years he made 58 appearances and scored 6 goals. He was sold to Foggia.
Maurizio Neri had been used as backup forward over the last couple of seasons and hence had very limited playing time. With the arrival of the new forwards his future at Lazio was doomed. He played 24 games with one goal and has now signed for Brescia.
Karl-Heinz Riedle, a fan favourite, had to make room for Casiraghi and Boksic and, since in Italy one could have no more than three foreign players, and seeing that Lazio already had Aron Winter and Paul Gascoigne, the club initially preferred to keep Thomas Doll. Riedle was sold to Borussia Dortmund after 94 appearances and 32 goals.
Thomas Doll has been plagued with injury in recent times and with the arrival of Alen Boksic, he was sacrificed. He was loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt in the autumn transfer window. With Lazio he has so far played 71 games with 12 goals.
Dario Marcolin arrived last year with Giuseppe Favalli and Mauro Bonomi from Cremonese. He was sent on loan to Cagliari. He has made 27 appearances with Lazio so far.
Giampaolo Saurini was sold to Atalanta. Used as backup forward for the 1990-91 season, he had been loaned to Brescia for a couple of seasons and had come back briefly while waiting for an opportunity to have more playing time. He left Lazio after 15 games and one goal (against his future team!).
Comments