Lazio And Roma Are Once Again In Competition For The Same Players From Santos As Their Transfer Targets Next Season

The AS Roma and Lazio derby is not limited to the pitch but also involves the pursuit of a Brazilian player who is currently playing for the team Santos FC in Brazil. Before the Italian League's transfer window opened, AS Roma and Lazio competed to sign Brazilian striker Marcos Leonardo.

The 20-year-old forward was noticed by the Roma and Lazio clubs, after having a shine season. This season, Marcos Leonardo has recorded 8 goals and 3 assists in 21 games, all of which are played for the club.

The management of AS Roma is indeed dedicated to improving their team's composition before the 2023/2024 campaign.

The signing of new players is necessary because AS Roma intends to sell off their leading striker, Tammy Abraham. The English striker is on Giallorossi's transfer list in the upcoming transfer market.

Apart from Tammy Abraham, Andrea Belotti's future at Trigoria is also in doubt. Jose Mourinho's intended target for the last season's transfer was still unable to score in the Italian League regularly. To date, the former Torino player has scored just four goals and two assists in all competitions from 42 games. However, his contract with AS Roma is known to expire at the end of the season.

As a result, AS Roma must bring in a new striker to augment the frontline's sharpness of Jose Mourinho's team for the following season and Marcos Leonardo is one of the Giallorossi's targets.

Unfortunately, AS Roma are not alone in pursuit of this Brazilian wonderkid. Mourinho's team once again had to deal with Lazio. Yes, their city rival is also interested in the signature of Marcos Leonardo.

Calciomercato.com reported that Maurizio Sarri's team is also in search of a successor to Ciro Immobile. This season, Ciro Immobile had only received 12 goals and 5 assists in all competitions he participated in this season because he was often unable to attend games due to injury. This is acceptable because he is no longer young and cannot maintain his previous level of fitness.

So Sarri also asked Lazio to look for a new backup striker who was planned to be Immobile's successor as Lazio's main striker in the future.