While there might be some confusion about how much Wesley Hoedt will end up costing Lazio, one thing the Italian media can agree on on Thursday is that he’s returning to his former club.
The Dutchman, who is out of favour at St Mary’s, is now expected to move to Rome before the end of the transfer window on loan with a view to buy.
We’ll start with Corriere dello Sport, who claim Lazio will not pay any money up front for the centre-back, arriving on a dry loan with a future fee of €5m potentially being paid to make the move permanent.
They state it is now up to Hoedt ‘to win back Lazio forever, otherwise he will return to Southampton’.
There was some venom between the Serie A side and their former player when he left, but Corriere explain ‘he promised maturity’ to avoid repeating the same mistakes and he is now ‘expected in Rome in the next few days’.
However, before he arrives, Lazio need to get rid of either Bastos or Wallace to ‘formalise the operation’.
A lot of this is corroborated by Gazzetta dello Sport, including the fact the Italians have to release one of the two for Hoedt to arrive and the wage cut.
There is one difference, though, which is they believe Lazio will pay €1m up front for the loan and be able to buy him down the line for €6m.
It’s not a huge difference, and either way, Hoedt should be returning to his former club in the next week or so.
