Lazio have been told they’ve secured “a magnificent move” in signing Boulaye Dia, even though he seemed determined to join Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Corriere dello Sport cover comments from sports director Walter Sabatini today on the striker and how Lazio have pulled off a superb signing this summer.
Dia joined Lazio on loan this summer after a contentious period at Salernitana, who he had majorly fallen out with over the last year.
That stemmed from a failed move to Wolves last summer, who had made an offer for the forward late in the window that was ultimately laughed off publicly by the Italian side.
That infuriated Dia, who made his feelings clear and ended up being suspended by the club in a very public and ugly war of words between the two parties.
He eventually returned but continued to make it clear he wanted to leave and worked throughout this summer to get it. Wolves continued to be linked, and all indications were that Dia was waiting for that to happen.
Instead, he’s ended up at Lazio on loan, something Sabatini believes the Italian club should be very happy about.
“Boulaye Dia? They made a magnificent move,” he said.
“He’s a strong player, he’s a striker who finishes, he feels the goal. He also has a great quality, because he can play paired with Castellanos. For me it was a very important operation, it makes Lazio more competitive.”
Salernitana were relegated last season. Sabatini had managed to keep them up the year before but then seeing his contract terminated.
He was begged to return in the winter but it was too late, and banishing Dia made things much worse.
Asked if he’d have liked Dia to be in the team last season, Sabatini said: “Yes, it would have changed things. However, he was serving a suspension that in the end remained as such, due to what happened after a failed transfer to Wolverhampton.”
So, Dia didn’t get his dream move to Wolves and Salernitana were relegated.
