Following last year’s huge disappointment, President Sergio Cragnotti decided to add even more quality to the team albeit letting Christian Vieri go.
Goodbye or almost
Christian Vieri was the Birmingham hero. Lazio supporters saw him as the heir to the throne of Giorgio Chinaglia and hoped he would stay forever (or at least for a long time). But Inter offered a huge sum of money, a world record transfer fee of 90 billion lire (approx 45 million euros). Cragnotti is first and foremost a businessman and then Lazio President so off went Vieri to Inter for 70 billion lire plus Diego Simeone. Vieri left Lazio after 28 appearances and 14 goals.
Ivan de la Peña together with Vieri was one of the star signings of the previous season. With Barcelona he was magical and when he joined Lazio the fans went crazy. But he arrived out of form and then got injured in his first game. He never really fitted in so he was sent on loan to Olympique Marseille in the hope that his magic could return. He had 23 appearances with one goal so far for the Biancocelesti.
Federico Crovari, midfielder, arrived last January from Monza but appeared just once during the season. He was sold to Treviso.
Flavio Roma was the goalkeeper of the Primavera team with Alessandro Nesta and Marco Di Vaio that played under Mimmo Caso and won the 1994-95 scudetto. He had been on loan to Mantova, Venezia, Fiorenzuola, Foggia and Chievo in the previous seasons. He was sold to Piacenza as part of the Simone Inzaghi deal.
Roberto Baronio arrived at the club in 1996. After a first year with Lazio with 16 appearances he was sent on loan to Vicenza in 1997-98 and returned the following season but again played just 11 times. He had now signed for Reggina in co-participation.
Welcome
Diego Pablo Simeone, former Velez Sarsfield, Pisa, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, arrived from Inter as part of the Vieri deal. He was an excellent midfield player with a great scoring ability. A possible alternative to Matias Almeyda, he was a born leader.
Juan Sebastian Veron was one of the stars of Serie A. Former Estudiantes, Boca Juniors, Sampdoria midfielder, he arrived from Parma where the previous year he won the UEFA Cup and the Coppa Italia. A great and classy signing.
Nestor Sensini could play both at midfield and defence. He was Mr. Reliability, you always knew what you were going to get out of him. Former Newell's Old Boys and Udinese, he had played the last six seasons with Parma winning two UEFA Cups, a Coppa Italia and a UEFA Super Cup. He also had almost 50 caps for his country.
Simone Inzaghi was one of the young revelations of the previous season where he scored 15 goals in 30 appearances for Piacenza in Serie A. He came to Lazio joining the attacking department that already had Marcelo Salas, Alen Boksic and Roberto Mancini. He would learn a lot from them.
Dario Marcolin returned to Lazio after a season on loan to Blackburn. He so far had 104 appearances with two goals for the Biancocelesti. He arrived in 1992 and after a season was loaned first to Cagliari and then to Genoa. He then played three seasons for Lazio before the previous year's English spell.
Luca Mondini arrived to be third goalkeeper behind Luca Marchegiani and Marco Ballotta. Previously owned by Inter, with whom he never played, he had been loaned to Spezia, Como and Fidelis Andria. Last season he was at Napoli after two years at Vicenza and one at Treviso.
The Kennet Andersson story
Kennet Andresson, the big Swedish centre-forward arrived from Bologna at the beginning of the transfer window but seeing that his playing time would be limited he preferred to go back to Bologna who were really missing him, “No hard feelings, I just wanted to play more”, he said.
Winter Session
Fabrizio Ravanelli arrived to substitute Andersson in January. The famous Silver Fox was an experienced forward having played for Juventus, Middlesbrough and Olympique Marseille, and would be very useful.
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