Despite the belief that Lazio had given up on trying to sign Jack Clarke from Sunderland, the Italian papers on Wednesday go in the opposite direction.
That’s because Maurizio Sarri really wants a new forward in these dying hours of the transfer window, with the former Tottenham youngster seemingly top of the list.
Three newspapers mention the Sunderland player as a target, and we’ll start with Gazzetta dello Sport, who explain the Serie A side are ‘currently waiting for a new opening’ from the Black Cats.
They recall the first effort to sign the 23-year-old ‘did not go well’, as their €16m bid was rejected, with the Stadium of Light residents wanting a starting price of €20m ‘with the addition of various bonuses’, as they know they owe 25% of a future transfer to Spurs.
Sunderland have ‘stalled’ for now, hoping to sell their star for a bigger fee in the summer, ‘perhaps in the Premier League’.
Moving onto Corriere dello Sport, we have Clarke mentioned following the rejected bid, and the explanation that ‘it’s getting tough’ for Lazio to sign him.
The glimmer of hope from them comes from the fact that despite claims the ‘negotiations were said to have collapsed’ two days ago, they state ‘they resumed’ on Tuesday (even if this wasn’t confirmed by the Italian club itself), ‘signalling a minimal gap between supply and demand’.
The last to bring up Clarke are Il Tempo, out of all the targets in England Lazio are going after, the Sunderland winger is the only to ‘stay afloat’ for the time being.
They don’t bring many more details, but point out the failed attempts for Jonathan Rowe and Morgan Whittaker, suggesting the only door open being the one at the Stadium of Light.
