Lazio goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha is in the sights of Newcastle United. His current deal runs down at the end of the season and without a renewal, he can leave the Italian club as a free agent in the summer.
After starting the first 15 league games on the bench, Maurizio Sarri offered the keeper his first start against Sampdoria last December. Since then, the Albania international has not missed a league tie for the Biancocelesti, conceding 18 goals and keeping six clean sheets from 17 league games.
According to La Lazio Siamo Noi, the Magpies and Torino have ‘carried out polls’ for the player, but ‘for now, nothing more’. Apart from the Tyneside club and Torino, there are other teams looking at the keeper.
Strakosha ‘reflects and prepares the choice for the future’. The report adds him leaving the club is ‘possible’, but it is ‘not yet the obvious scenario’.
It’s claimed he has not agreed a deal with another club as of now since the 27-year-old has not yet received an attractive proposal. If it were up to the player, he could continue with his current employer.
To do that, Strakosha is asking for an annual salary of €2m plus an additional €2-3m as a signing on bonus. He further wants assurances that he will be the club’s No.1 keeper. However, Sarri would prefer to bring in another goalkeeper in the summer.
The website states: ‘Strakosha-Lazio is a story that is not closed, let’s say half-open. A crack could reopen in May, when the goalkeeper will definitively dissolve the reservations about his future.’
‘Lazio is waiting for news from his entourage, reasoning is being made on the goalkeeper question, the feeling is that the Albanian can leave, but official communications have not yet arrived.’
