During the most recent off-season, the Roman club saw their best player, Serbian midfielder Sergej Milinković-Savić, leave the Stadio Olimpico for a lucrative pay cheque in Saudi Arabia. Al Hilal signed Milinković-Savić for €40 million. The impact of his departure has been obvious - despite having used that same money to fund several other signings, Lazio are nowhere near the team that finished second in Serie A last season - their best result since winning the league in the 1999-2000 season.
Lazio's struggles continued in their league match against AC Milan. The Biancocelesti were by and large no threat to Milan and went down rather tamely. Goals scored by Christian Pulisic and Noah Okafor clinched Milan's third consecutive league victory. The result also left Lazio in 15th place with just seven points thus far - 11 points behind league leaders Inter Milan after seven matchdays.
It's obvious that Lazio would not have been in this predicament had Milinković-Savić still been on board. Their current midfield rotation is just not cutting it. Loan acquisition Matteo Guendouzi looks out of his depth thus far, while the likes of Luis Alberto, Nicolò Rovella, and Danilo Cataldi, while all decent players, do not even come close to significantly moving the needle.
The absence of Milinković-Savić was keenly felt in the match against Milan. Every member of the starting Lazio midfield trio was easily outplayed by their counterparts in red and black. Milan's superiority in midfield went on to serve as their foundation for victory; additionally, Guendouzi has to be singled out for a particularly poor performance - and not for the first time this season.
Milinković-Savić was the driving force behind Lazio's recent success during the club's most successful period since the turn of the century. His impressive versatility, playmaking skills, defensive capabilities, and physicality and athleticism made him one of Serie A's best midfielder and a player once coveted by many of Europe's leading clubs including Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, and Arsenal over the course of his eight-year tenure at Lazio.
On top of this, Lazio have been even further hamstrung by Milinković-Savić's relatively low transfer fee. At 28, he still has four or five good years left in him and could easily have gone for €55 million or €60 million. Certainly, leaving money on the table when it comes to transfers like this is not the way to challenge for a top-four spot.
While it is unlikely that Lazio will remain this far down the Serie A table for too long, they will probably find it very difficult to make their way back into the chase for a top-four spot and a place in next season's Champions League. Players of Milinković-Savić's calibre don't end up at clubs like Lazio all that often. Based on what has been seen so far, it does not seem particularly likely that Lazio will even be able to qualify for any continental tournament, let alone the Champions League.
Not even the prospect of the upcoming transfer window in January is likely to change Lazio's fortunes. Lazio have never been a club able to attract many top players in the transfer window. Players on the level of Milinković-Savić don't come around all that often anymore - this club has fallen a long way from the glory days when legends like Pavel Nedvěd, Alessandro Nesta, Diego Simeone, Marcelo Salas, and Siniša Mihajlović donned the sky blue and white. More than likely, Lazio will come up empty once again.
This could even have a knock-on effect upon the man who has surely become one of the most luckless coaches in world football history: Maurizio Sarri. A final league position well down the ladder could cost Sarri his job just one year after taking Lazio to their best league finish in almost a quarter-century. Somehow, ever since leaving his hometown club of Napoli, Sarri has developed a knack of taking over right when everything begins to fall apart. It's starting to look as though his Lazio stint will be another example of such.
Although not even a quarter of the league campaign has elapsed, it really doesn't look good at Lazio - and so much of it is down to one single transfer.
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