Lazio Opt Against Keeping Midfielder With Expiring Contract

Lazio have reportedly decided to part ways with Danilo Cataldi when his contract expires at the end of the season.

The experienced midfielder has only made one cameo appearance this term, as he spent the first two months of the season recovering from groin surgery. Luckily for Gennaro Gattuso, his team wasn’t impeded by Cataldi’s absence, as they currently find themselves at the top of the Serie A table.

Lazio’s early-season accomplishments see them climb to the top of the table alone for the first time since the 2010/11 campaign. Needless to say, none of the current squad players was part of the senior squad at the time, but Cataldi would probably recall that period, given how he was developing his game in the club’s youth sector.

The midfielder became a member of the first team in 2013, but was sent out on loan to Crotone that season, before rejoining Lazio’s senior squad the following year. Afterwards, the Roman’s career has been a rollercoaster. He was considered a key player at times, only to become an exile on other occasions.

Between January 2017 and June 2018, Catldi had back-to-back loan spells at Genoa and Benevento. In the summer of 2024, he fell out with the management after being passed over for the captaincy in favour of Mattia Zaccagni. The midfielder had a positive campaign at Fiorentina, but the Tuscans opted against exercising their option to buy him.

Cataldi thus returned to Lazio once again in the summer of 2025, coinciding with Maurizio Sarri’s comeback. He ended up reclaiming his starting role amid Nicolo Rovella’s injury nightmare.

But according to Il Messaggero (via La Lazio Siamo Noi), the management has decided not to renew Cataldi’s contract, so the player will become a free agent when his contract expires at the end of the season.

This would bring an end to a 21-year stint, as the player had joined the club’s youth ranks in 2006 at the tender age of 12. He went on to make 277 appearances for the senior squad, contributing with 13 goals and 19 assists.

This decision (if indeed true) could have been prompted by Reda Belahyane’s meteoric rise to prominence this season. The Moroccan is expected to compete with Rovella once the latter returns to action for the Regista role, leaving Cataldi as the odd man out.