Once seen as one of the more promising goalkeepers in Europe, with clubs such as Liverpool after him, Thomas Strakosha is no longer the first choice at Lazio these days.
Used mostly in the Europa League, the Albania international spent the first 15 Serie A games of the season on the bench, although he has been in the first XI for the last three.
Corriere della Sera take a look at his situation on Monday, recalling that his contract with Lazio expires in June 2022, which Watford want to take advantage of.
Actually, it’s the Pozzo family who want to make the most of this, but it is the Vicarage Road side they want to gift Strakosha to, rather than Udinese.
The newspaper explain that the goalkeeper is ‘afraid of ending up on the bench again’, which is why he isn’t overly keen about renewing, and the Watford owners have ‘set their sights on him’.
It’s pointed out ‘they would like to bring the Lazio player to England as early as January’, while offering Udinese right-back Jens Stryger Larsen in exchange, whose contract with the Serie A side also expires in 2022.
This comes as Watford already have three goalkeepers in their squad with Daniel Bachmann (contract until 2024), Ben Foster (2022) and Rob Elliott (2023), and after the Hornets paid £4.5m to Sparta Rotterdam for Maduka Okoye, who will be loaned back there until the end of the season.
If Strakosha arrives and Foster doesn’t renew, that will leave the Vicarage Road side with four goalkeepers in the summer, leading to what many would consider overcrowding at the position.
Unless Bachmann is sold, of course…
