Everton have been linked with an ambitious move for Ciro Immobile, but it’s hard to see the Toffees landing his signature. The 30-year-old has been a terrific servant for Lazio, has shown no desire to leave the club and may be too expensive to sign off the back of an outstanding Serie A campaign.
Immobile joined Lazio from Sevilla in 2016 and has gone on to make 167 appearances in all competitions, contributing 148 goals. As per Transfermarkt, the Italian international scored 23 league goals in 2016/17, 29 in 2017/18, 15 in 2018/19 and 27 this season.
As per WhoScored, Immobile has amassed 2,186 minutes of Serie A football, creating 47 chances, completing 76.8% of his 629 passes, winning 16 aerial duels (28%), making 18 successful dribbles (47%) and having 101 shots with 49.5% accuracy.
Why Lazio would sell their most valuable asset remains to be seen – Immobile has more than three years remaining on his deal and is enjoying the best form of his career. The 30-year-old is committed to Lazio too. He revealed in a November interview with Corriere dello Sport via Calciomercato: “I’m happy here.
“There was never a thought of leaving. I don’t even think about it. I bought a house, it’s above the Olimpico, I’ll be closer to the stadium. We like the city, it’s close to my wife’s town, it’s close to my town. It’s a good solution for us.”
Even if Lazio were happy to sell Immobile and the striker was happy to leave, Everton may not be able to afford him.
Lazio only paid €8.5m (£7.7m) for the Italian in 2016, but his market value with Transfermarkt is now £45m while CIES rate him around €50m-€70m (£45.7m-£64m). No player in Europe’s top-five leagues has more goals than Immobile, so Lazio wouldn’t entertain selling him cheap. Everton may have to turn their attentions elsewhere.