Miroslav Klose is being discussed by his former club Lazio as the successor to head coach Maurizio Sarri. The World Cup record goalscorer recently commented very positively on t-online about his involvement in Italy.
The Italian Serie A club Lazio Rome will probably have to look for a new coach after the round of 16 exit in the Champions League against Bayern Munich. The previous coach Maurizio Sarri announced his departure on Tuesday, according to a report in the sports newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport” and other Italian media.
The 65-year-old Italian has been coaching the current ninth-placed team in Serie A since summer 2021. There was initially no official confirmation. Former Lazio striker and 2014 German World Cup winner Miroslav Klose is also being discussed as a successor. Klose ended his playing career at Lazio in 2016 after stints in Kaiserslautern, Bremen and Munich. His only position as head coach so far was at the Austrian first division club SCR Altach.
When asked what his future plans were and whether Italy would also be an option for him as a coach, Klose said in a t-online interview last week: “Definitely. The club has to take the first step and approach me.” Unfortunately, at the moment it didn’t happen the way he had imagined.
Klose: “I’m ready and could get started straight away”
“But I am convinced that this will be the case in the near future. I am in good spirits, free and ready. I could get started straight away,” continued Klose. Klose was last there as a TV expert in Rome for the first leg of FC Bayern’s round of 16 (0-1). And was celebrated frenetically by the fans of his former club Lazio before kick-off.
“I’m there regularly and have a lot of friends in Rome. It’s always been fantastic, the people and fans have always welcomed me with great openness. I always enjoy coming back there,” said Klose. “It’s a great city, I like the Italian cuisine, the language.” Is Klose now returning to the Eternal City as a coach? In any case, he has the best prerequisites for this.
Sarri’s contract with the second major Italian capital club alongside AS Roma, which was supposedly worth four million euros per year, actually ran until mid-2025. But Sarri had already cleared out his locker, wrote the “Gazzetta”. After a 1-0 home win in February, Lazio ultimately clearly failed against Bayern with a 3-0 defeat in Munich last week. There have recently been three defeats in a row in Serie A.