Mario Gila contract confusion at Lazio could see him leave for free

Lazio defender Mario Gila is attracting interest from Milan, Inter and clubs outside of Italy, but his contract situation is rather complicated.

The 25-year-old is a product of the Real Madrid academy and was sold to Lazio for €6m in the summer of 2022.

He signed a five-year contract, which is set to expire in June 2027, making him an appetising figure on the transfer market.

As part of that agreement, Real Madrid are owed a 50 per cent cut of any future sale, so Lazio won’t see anywhere near the profit they were hoping for if he does leave.

At the same time, the transfer embargo for failing three different financial stress tests means the club cannot sign any new players, or increase the overall wage bill.

This is a particular problem when players like Gila, Alessio Romagnoli, Matteo Cancellieri, Danilo Cataldi and Ivan Provedel have contracts set to expire in June 2027.

When it comes to the Spanish centre-back, his current wages are only €1.1m per season, so the Corriere dello Sport suggests he could prefer to wait until his contract runs down.

That way, he could negotiate a much higher salary from scratch, knowing he would be a free agent.

At the same time, Lazio wouldn’t lose a huge profit, because half of it was owed to Real Madrid anyway, and might not entirely mind letting him leave for free.

Gila had already been approached by Chelsea and Bournemouth over the summer.