Lazio has tied down midfield star Luis Alberto to a new five-year contract.
Alberto has looked a player reborn since moving to the Italian capital from Liverpool, where he made just 12 appearances in a three-year spell. The Spaniard was a key aspect of Lazio's title charge last season which eventually fell short, seeing the Romans finish fourth. He finished the campaign with 15 assists in Serie A, behind only Atalanta's Papu Gomez.
Luis Alberto has extended his contract with Lazio to June 2025
His contract was set to expire in 2022. pic.twitter.com/hVBA0WGwYZ— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) September 29, 2020
After making just nine league appearances in his first season in Italy, Alberto has earned the unfailing trust of manager Simone Inzaghi and blossomed into one of the stars of Serie A. He finished the 2017-18 campaign with 12 goals and 19 assists in 47 appearances and was rewarded for his form with a debut for the senior Spanish national team in November 2017.
Alberto has shone alongside Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. When he first arrived in Rome in August 2016, Transfermarkt listed his value at $4.40 million. Now, just over four years later, the website lists Alberto as the second-most valuable player on Lazio's books at $55 million, ahead of Immobile at $49.5 million.
Playing as a number 10, central midfielder or second striker for Lazio, Alberto has racked up totals of 26 goals and 44 assists in 136 appearances thus far. It will come as a huge boost to the club to have secured his long-term future as it looks to follow up last season's successful campaign with another strong showing after securing a spot in the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2007-08.
