Eliseu, the second pawn in the chessboard

Lazio keep planning ahead and another pawn has been added to the chessboard, after the goalkeeper Bizzarri joined form Catania. Eliseu Pereira dos Santos is a Portuguese left winger who played for Spanish outfit Malaga in the last two seasons. With the Costa del Sol team he collected a total 73 appearances and 10 goals. In 2007/08 Malaga ascended from Segunda Division and as soon as Eliseu had an impact with the Liga, he already knew by November that he would leave by the end of the season. Reportedly, his agent has offered him to several teams in Germany, France and England before Lazio came decidedly to the rescue.
Fernando Sanz (son of former Real Madrid president Lorenzo), Malaga’s president, didn’t even want to hear about the Roman club offering 600,000 euros (which was exactly the equivalent of the clause) for the Portuguese winger. So Lazio decided to offer 1 million euros and one redundancy player of their roster (Scaloni or Makinwa seem to be the most probable candidates).
Eliseu will arrive in Rome between Monday 22nd and Thursday 25th June and will sign a 5-year contract. He will earn 700,000 euros per season but that figure should grow depending on his performances. His agent Carlos Gonçalves said the former Belenenses player will be «happy to play with Lazio, whose home is a magnificent stadium like the Olimpico».
Ballardini will either employ him in a 4-4-2 system or in a 4-3-3 as an outlying striker. He can play on both flanks despite being mainly left-footed. Versatility and speed are his main qualities. Last season he scored 7 goals. He netted one of them against Real Madrid when he opened the scoring on the 6th minute in a thrilling 4-3 match at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. That was the only game when, with Eliseu on the score-sheet, Malaga lost. In fact, the Andalusia outfit went on to win the other five at Villarreal (0-2), Getafe (1-2), Betis (1-2 where he netted the winner), Recreativo Huelva (0-4 with Eliseu striking twice) and Osasuna at home (4-2). The Portuguese winger will be a very important reinforcement in midfield providing physical strength and skill.
In the meanwhile Lotito has offered Pavel Nedved a 2-year contract and a future as director at the club. His agent Mino Raiola said that they will discuss this subject later, that is when Pavel will be back from holidays.
Here’s other key dates for the pre-season:
8th July New kits are unveiled (exactly one month before the Italian Supercup final)
Friendlies at Auronzo:
12th July Auronzo Representative v Lazio
18th July Lazio v Universitatea Craiova (Romania; pre-season in Austria)
22nd July Lazio v SPAL (Lega Pro)
26th July Lazio v Triestina (Serie B)

1st August Lazio fly to China via Frankfurt

 8th August Inter Milan v Lazio (Supercup)

 13th August Lazio v Osasuna at the Olimpico (presentation of the new team to the fans)