I've been holding off because sporting news tends not to age very well, but I'm in such a state of utter confusion regarding Lazio right now that I feel compelled to write down a few of my questions:

• Apparently even if Romagnoli winds up staying, we can't afford his 2.5 million EUR wage. Lazio's revenue was published in a recent article: it's been more or less stable for several years in a row. Not growing, but not diminishing either. How could we afford a team just a few years ago, full of players with 2.5 million EUR wages and higher-- heck, even Pellegrini makes 2.4, I think Ciro made 3.5, similar with Sergej-- and now we can't, when the revenue is the same?


• Why is there zero communication coming out of Lazio? What is even occurring at the club? Who knows! Lotito was confronted at the Reggina press conference-- why he's buying or allowed to buy a second team when he's running the first one into the gutter is another point-- and asked a question about Lazio; his reply? "I'm only going to talk about Reggina." And what happened to Fabiani? Is he even alive? He hasn't issued a statement in forever! Doesn't Lazio have an actual communications person, or can they not afford any staff anymore?


• How in the world was Lazio allowed to slip into this limited market state again? They are the only team in Serie A with market limitations. Who manages the finances at Lazio? Do they have an accountant-- even a college intern who knows how to use Excel? It's beyond my comprehension.


• Why are Lazio not playing any friendlies? They are playing only against their own Primavera team, and some local outfits. Was it a lack of ability to organize such matches-- like, does the team have actual staff anymore? Is it because they literally can't afford plane flights? Is it because they don't want everyone to see how bad the team is, even though that will get revealed when actual league play begins? And with zero communication coming out of the club, it's not like anyone can ask and actually receive an answer.


• Why has the league not intervened? I know it's not like American sports-- in Italy the teams aren't franchises. But if I were the league's president, my hair would be on fire at the notion that one of the supposedly most recognizable teams in my league were about to play an entire season in an empty stadium. How is that a good advert for Italian football? I would be applying maximum pressure to Lotito-- "This needs to be resolved, I don't care what you say, things can not move forward like this. I will begin to sanction you in every way within my power to do so."


• Why have we sold umpteen million players over the past two windows, plus had millions in contract expirations, yet almost none of that money has been reinvested? We sold Castellanos and Guendouzi for a combined sixty million EUR-- and we bought Ratkov for 13 I think it was, and Taylor for 15. Where in blazes did the rest of that money go? Did Lotito steal it? Or do we have extraordinary, massive debts which aren't being revealed?

I was asking Copilot if there was any precedence for any of this, in any professional sport, in the history of Earth. It could find isolated instances of some of these things-- like, "well this team played one game without fans one time"-- but nothing even approaching what is happening at Lazio. It's almost like the club is defunct and totally financially insolvent, but somehow it's being kept secret, even though the team is traded on an exchange.

In that vein, is Lotito going to get arrested for cooked books? I'm wondering who even works at Formello-- is there a staff remaining? I would love to know what's happening between closed doors, because from the outside I can't make heads or tails of any of it. I think if I were to describe this to people outside of Italy who don't know the news cycle, they wouldn't even believe me.

Who is running the daily operations at Lazio? Anyone? Because it kind of seems like no one is home. And when there is a dearth of communication, that leaves a data vacuum into which peoples' worst fears begin to flow, including my own. The only positive conjecture I can make is that Lotito is in the final stages to sell, which is why he's not investing any further money. That would fit the evidence, and I can only hope.