Lazio president Claudio Lotito admits he never wanted to sell Felipe Anderson to West Ham United back in 2018 with the Brazil international eventually returning to Serie A after a difficult spell in the Premier League, speaking to Il Messaggero.
Anderson certainly had his moments in claret-and-blue. But not enough of them to justify a £36 million price-tag. A fee which, for a while at least, made him the most expensive signing in West Ham’s entire history.
It’s testament to how far Anderson slipped down the pecking order that he departed, just three seasons later, for a cut-price fee of £2.5 million; David Moyes preferring the endeavour of Pablo Fornals over Anderson’s jogo bonito exuberance.
Back home at Lazio, the one-time Santos star is reminding everyone why he was once one of Europe’s most in-form widemen. There has been eight goals and six assists this season already; Anderson showcasing his new-found versatility in a more central role while threatening to make 2022/23 the most prolific campaign of his career.
Felipe Anderson shining at Lazio after West Ham United exit
And Lotito, Lazio’s long-serving president, admits that the decision to cash in on Anderson five years ago was not his but that of former head coach Simone Inzaghi.
“I would never have sold him,” Lotito protests. “But Inzaghi didn’t want him.”
After falling out of favour under both Inzaghi and Moyes, Anderson is at last sharing a dressing room with a coach willing to take the rough with the smooth, and embrace his inconsistencies. Maurizio Sarri, a purist compared to the more-pragmatic Moyes, labels Anderson a ‘phenomenon’.
They do say they you should never go back. Anderson, however, believes his superb second stint in the Italian capital disproves that particular theory.
“My first time (at Lazio), there was a year-and-a-half acclimatisation process. It wasn’t easy, but the club helped me and always believed in me,” Anderson explains. “In fact, the following year was one of my best seasons.
“My return, after the experiences with West Ham and Porto? I benefited from and grew up in those hard moments. Whether you like it or not, you cannot separate your private life from your professional life.
“Returning to Lazio was one of the best things I’ve ever done. They really wanted me and, this time, everything is going even better.”
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