Lazio are refusing to give up on the idea of signing Jack Clarke before the end of the transfer window, with the Sunderland star their number one target on deadline day.
That’s according to Gazzetta dello Sport, who report the club are going ‘all in’ on the Black Cats winger, who has already been the subject of a €16m rejected bid for his services.
Lazio are ‘desperately looking’ for a winger to gift to Maurizio Sarri, and the Serie A side are ‘ready to bid’ for the Sunderland forward once more before the gong rings.
The Championship side are ‘lukewarm’ on the idea of letting such an important part of their squad at the last minute, and would ‘prefer to sell him next summer’.
Their valuation remains at €25m, which had ‘frozen’ the hopes on Lazio’s side, but the channels with Sunderland ‘have been reopened’ in ‘the last few hours’.
It’s said that Lazio and the Black Cats are trying to find the right formula that would ‘safeguard’ the English side’s ‘need to monetise as much as possible’ and Lazio’s desire to not overpay.
They report that the ‘margins are very tight’, but they also point out it wouldn’t the first time in the history of football that a near impossible situation unlocks itself in the dying hours of a transfer window.
Corriere dello Sport are far more pessimistic, however, as they suggest there will be no arrivals at Lazio before Thursday evening and Clarke ‘will not be leaving’ Sunderland.
The same applies to Corriere della Sera’s Roma edition, who had a budget of €15m to buy a winger, and this wasn’t enough to convince the Black Cats, or any other Championship side, to let go of their players.
This is also echoed by Il Tempo, who explain that Lazio have dismissed 90% of the names reported in the media, and there appears to be no player incoming, even if Jack Clarke was one of the few ‘credible candidates’ to arrive before the deadline.
In short, it’s Gazzetta who appear to be the more upbeat about this, even if they know it will be difficult.
