Vedat Muriqi admitted he has not lived up to his £18 million price-tag at Lazio amid reports linking the struggling striker with Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley, while speaking to Corriere dello Sport.
Carlos Vinicius might have opened his Premier League account at last during Sunday’s 2-0 win at Aston Villa but, with just two months of the season remaining, the Brazilian’s future at Spurs remains uncertain.
Has the Benfica loanee done enough to suggest that Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham side should be turning his short-term deal into a £36 million permanent transfer? Probably not.
But, having said that, Vinicius has still outscored Muriqi in 2020/21 – even if many of his goals have come against sixth-tier opposition in the FA Cup and teams from Bulgaria, Belgium and Austria.
Muriqi has found the net just twice in 25 matches since sealing an £18 million move to Lazio and drew another blank in Sunday’s 1-0 win at Udinese.
Although Muriqi doesn’t need us, or anyone else, to remind him that more was expected from the ninth-most expensive signing in Lazio’s history.
“When I got here, I knew people expected a lot from me. The club spent about 20 million euros to buy me, that’s a lot of money,” said the late-blooming 26-year-old, who moved to Italy after one season at Fenerbahce.
“Unfortunately, I had a bit of difficulty due to the injury at the beginning of the season, then Covid and the problems of adapting from Turkey to Italy added to it.
“A lot of criticism has arrived. I know that I am a striker and that I should score, but my commitment never fails. I always try to help the team even if I don’t score. I will continue to improve myself and give a hand to my team-mates.”
According to La Lazio Siamo Noi, Tottenham and Burnley may be tempted to offer Muriqi a fresh start in the hope that the Kosovo international can rediscover the free-scoring form he showed in Turkey.
But Muriqi does not sound like a man willing to throw in the towel and give up on his Lazio career this early.
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