Lazio: Sarri-Lotito, now it’s freezing. Doubts about renewal

What happens now? The heavy knockout in the derby, the umpteenth of a season that has already registered too many, thickens new clouds on the promised contract renewal of Maurizio Sarri with Lazio. After the thaw of the last few weeks, which seemed to be the prelude to a happy ending to the negotiation during this championship break, now the hour of great doubts is starting again. On both sides.

Encounter or confrontation?

–

Encounter or confrontation? While there have never been any official announcements, a meeting between the coach and president Lotito was taken for granted later this week. With the aim of re-tying the threads of a negotiation that, before Christmas, seemed to be already in the pipeline and then instead ran aground due to misunderstandings on the January market. A setback that, albeit with difficulty, had been overcome in recent times thanks also to the performance of the team which – before the backhand in the derby – had been decidedly more comforting than in the first part of the season. The 3-0 collected by Roma calls everything into question.

It is true that a negative result, even if suffered in an important game, cannot affect the general strategies. But it is the way it arrived that makes certain questions relevant again. In fact, total and sudden blackouts have been a constant throughout Sarriana’s first season on the Lazio bench, from the knockouts with Bologna and Verona to the one with Napoli to get to the most recent one with Milan in the Italian Cup. Performance that some doubts in society made him come. But there are also doubts on the other side.

The end of the initial honeymoon was born, it was said, with the misunderstandings on the January market. Sarri expected reinforcements who did not arrive and on Sunday, after the derby, he said – among others – a cryptic phrase that sounds like a clear message to the club. “I have a duty to defend the players I have at my disposal, after all I will speak directly with the club.” It is clear that, given the situation from the point of view of the coach, a precise commitment on the market is needed to open a long-term cycle, for which the contractual extension to 2025 that we have been talking about for months is the premise.

All in the balance

–

This is why the technical-president meeting scheduled for the next few days is not certain to take place. It is useless to see each other if both sides continue to have doubts. Which can be dispelled on the one hand with a championship final that allows (at least) qualification for a European cup and, on the other, with a concrete commitment to set up a robust transfer campaign for next summer. The agreement at that point would come by itself, given that on duration (until 2025) and engagement (from the current 3 to 3.5 million per season) the agreement had in fact already been found.

The most likely scenario, therefore, is that the negotiation undergoes a new postponement, also because the current contract expires in 2023 and there is therefore no absolute urgency to renew it. Even if there is that clause on the contract (exercisable by May) that allows Sarri to terminate the contract in the event of an agreement with a foreign club. It doesn’t seem like a hypothesis that the Commander wants to consider. Unless he too decides to do like his Lazio who – in the words of the coach after the derby – “suddenly surprises you when you least expect it”.