Miroslav Klose is being discussed as the new head coach at his former club Lazio Rome. At t-online he already commented positively on his commitment to Italy. Now it became even clearer.
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.
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.
Klose has Lazio in his sights
Asked specifically whether the job as Lazio head coach would be interesting for him, Klose said on Amazon Prime on Tuesday evening: “Yes, of course. I can be there tomorrow.” When moderator Sebastian Hellmann asked whether he would do it, he replied unequivocally: “Absolutely. Yes.”
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.