Juventus Have Edge On Lazio, Admits Zoff
Monday 3rd September 2001
Lazio coach Dino Zoff believes Juventus will be the side to catch in Serie A this season, despite his �16 million capture of Jaap Stam from Manchester United.
"Stam can strengthen our team, but Juve have something more than us," he admitted. "During the (summer) transfer market they worked very hard."
The signing of Stam has given Lazio new hope after a relatively quiet close season in terms of recruitment. Gaizka Mendieta's arrival from Valencia proved to be the major talking point.
But the loss of Pavel Nedved and Juan Sebastian Veron completed a miserable few months for Lazio fans, after they relinquished the Scudetto to Roma last season.
Despite Juve's own loss of Zinedine Zidane, they have bought Nedved, Lilian Thuram, Gianluigi Buffon and Marcelo Salas for a renewed assault at home and in Europe.
Lazio goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi concurred with his coach when he claimed Juve would remain Roma's fiercest challengers. "It's hard to say that we are on the same level as Juventus and Roma," he said.
"We have to look at it on the pitch first. Stam is a great defender and I'll be more relaxed with him ahead of me."
The most optimistic of the Lazio squad appear to those on the fringes. Striker Simone Inzaghi said: "We are as strong as last year. We lost some strong players but we bought some others of the same level.
"We need only time to find teamwork between the old and the new players"
Giuliano Giannicchedda, returning from a loan spell with Udinese, cited the presence of Stam as key. "Now we are strong and complete. We can win in Italy and in Europe," he said.
"That is the reason I opted to stay here, despite Juventus being interested in me. I have had very poor chances on the pitch until now, but I feel that I can become an important player. I am an ambitious guy playing at an ambitious club."
Stam will get his first chance to live up to expectations with a league match next weekend against Perugia, quickly followed by a Champions' League encounter in Turkey against Galatasaray.
