Trying to scout for players in the European Championships isn’t an easy task, most of the top level players who tend to catch the eye are out of our price range, whilst those at the other end of the spectrum probably aren’t any better than what we have already.
One interesting player who doesn’t seem to have a future at his parent club is Valentino Lazaro, signed in 2019 by Inter Milan from Hertha Berlin but yet to make any sort of impression in Serie A, spending time out on loan at Newcastle United and last season at Borussia Monchengladbach where there was an option to make his deal permanent as explained by Transfermarkt:
“Borussia will initially pay a loan fee of €1.2 million, with the option to make the deal permanent set at €13.8 million. In case of a resale, 15% of the transfer profit will go to Inter as well.”
Inter paid over £15m for Lazaro but the Austrian international’s value will have depreciated after a poor season in the Bundesliga, scoring just two goals and creating one assist, this doesn’t mean that he has turned into a bad player though, his best club form a few seasons ago saw him register a goal or assist every four games for RB Salzburg.
He’s good on the ball, quick, and capable of playing down either flank both in defence and attack, but mainly plays on the right-hand side of attack, somewhere he simply isn’t going to get game time for the Serie A champions.
The option of being able to “try before you buy” is becoming more and more popular nowadays, especially for a club like our own where every penny has to be maximised, however, with a decent sell on clause, there is no reason why Ross Wilson couldn’t negotiate a deal that could benefit both parties – if he doesn’t have something else already up his sleeve.