Igor Tudor and Lazio president Claudio Lotito have reached an agreement in principle. The coach will be appointed to replace Maurizio Sarri next week. Former assistant Giovanni Martusciello will guide the team versus Frosinone.
Per SportMediaset, the Croat was the only manager the Biancocelesti met vis-à-vis. The parties came to terms pretty quickly. He’ll ink an 18-month contract with an option for one further season. He will make €2.5M annually.
Lazio will be the third Italian team for Tudor after Udinese and Verona. He finished 9th with the Scaligeri in his best Serie A campaign. He also assisted Andrea Pirlo at Juventus and helmed Galatasaray, Hajduk Split, and Olympique Marseille in recent years. The skipper left the French side due to internal turmoil despite concluding the past season in third position.
The 45-year-old, who played for a long time for the Old Lady and Siena, strikes a deal to return to the Peninsula a few months after being left at the altar by Napoli. He had a couple of summits with Aurelio De Laurentiis after Rudi Garcia’s dismissal. However, the two didn’t click.
Our Take on Lazio and Tudor
He has been solid in his previous spells, mirroring Gian Piero Gasperini and Ivan Juric’s intense philosophy, but never coached a team of this caliber in Italy. The hiring comes with a significant element of risk since they’ll have to adapt the squad to a different scheme and because he’s a little rough around the edges.
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