Lazio were confident they would eventually sign Filip Kostic after tracking him for weeks. They could not and bounced back by purchasing Mattia Zaccagni from Verona. On top of rejecting every bid, Eintracht Frankfurt also obstructed them with a trick, Gianluca Di Marzio reports.
The two sides were closing in on an agreement with four days to go. Lazio submitted a €10M bid plus €2M bonuses. The German side asked for €1M as an add-on. The Biancocelesti sent their official proposal by email. However, Eintracht had purposefully given them the wrong address. They exploited that to tell the player that they never received a formal offer.
His agent Fali Ramadami found out and informed Kostic. It led to some tensions, and the winger refused to play against Arminia Bielefeld. Lazio director Igli Tare talked to Bild to apply further pressure but to no avail. Eintracht has pushed back on the report, indicating that the Biancocelesti made a material error instead. The Serbian attacker has two years left on his contract with Die Adler.
Lazio kept an extra-EU spot open until deadline day to accommodate Kostic. Even though they were unsuccessful, they did not finalize the purchase of defender Dimitrije Kamenovic. He has been practicing with the team for the entire summer. He is still technically a Cukaricki player. The club will soon decide with his agent Mateja Kezman whether to keep him in Rome until January and then complete the procedure or send him back to Serbia to play, Tuttomercatoweb reports.