Lazio Director Angelo Fabiani Reveals Shocking Agent Request That Ruined Cesare Casadei Deal

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The Laziali

·5 febbraio 2025

Lazio Director Angelo Fabiani Reveals Shocking Agent Request That Ruined Cesare Casadei Deal

Lazio sporting director Angelo Fabiani discussed the club’s January business, including the infamous Cesare Casadei transfer saga.

Angelo Fabiani Reveals Why Lazio Didn’t Sign Cesare Casadei

The Biancocelesti spent weeks chasing the 22-year-old, but following several twists and turns, Torino reached the finish line first, striking a deal with Chelsea and the player’s entourage. While there have been several speculations regarding the reasons that led final outcome, Fabiani revealed the background.

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The Package

In the last few weeks of the winter market, the Biancocelesti were also linked with RC Strasbourg defender Abakar Sylla. The Ligue 1 side shares the same owners as Chelsea, while the Ivorian centre-back is also represented by Casadei’s agents. Therefore, Fabiani claims these agents tried to impose Sylla on Lazio in order to finalize Casadei’s transfer.

I don’t like it when they try to impose things on me. If was interested in Sylla, I would have signed him. But if they want to impose him on me by force, then Casadei doesn’t interest me.

Luca Pellegrini’s Omission

The 63-year-old was also asked about the surprising decision to omit Luca Pellegrini from the Serie A squad. The director insisted that head coach Marco Baroni had the last say on the matter.

It is the coach who decides. He tells us things, he gives us a list and the club must endorse what he says. If you don’t listen to your leader, he is delegitimized and if that happens, it’s the end of the club. You must respect the coach. The choice to exclude Pellegrini and reinstate [Toma] Basic was his. He told us that the Croatian could be more useful, even though he was close to leaving Lazio several times in January.

Oliver Provstgaard

Fabiani also discussed the club’s January signings, beginning with Oliver Provstgaard. He believes the Danish defender could prove to be a great coup like Christos Mandas.

Time will tell if we got it right or not. As we did with Mandas, we thought we would bring him right away to let him settle in and now he is giving us a lot of satisfaction. You could say he is on the same lines as Mandas.

Reda Belahyane & Jacopo Fazzini

The former Salernitana director also insisted that Baroni never asked for Jacopo Fazzini, but instead greenlighted the signing for Reda Belahyane.

We turned down millions of euros to keep our players, as Baroni didn’t want to lose any of our stars and neither did we. It means we’re on the right path and have already completed 50-60% of the project. I hear people say the coach absolutely wanted Fazzini, but it’s a lie. The coach never put pressure on anyone. Fazzini was on the list. But if Belahyane is now at Lazio, it’s because the coach gave the OK.