Lazio and Inter Milan are working through the final details of a deal to bring Frattesi back to Rome, with the clubs hoping to exchange paperwork as soon as Wednesday. It would complete a journey twelve years in the making: Lazio's academy let Frattesi go in 2014, before a path through AS Roma and Sassuolo convinced Inter to sign him in Milan.
A previous attempt to bring him back to the capital via Roma never materialised, and Lazio's own push last January also fell short. This time, according to reports, Frattesi has never been closer to what would be described as a genuine homecoming.
The structure under discussion is a loan with an obligation to buy tied to Lazio's final league position, with the two clubs having narrowed their disagreement to two specific figures. On the buy-back trigger, Lazio initially wanted the obligation activated only by European qualification, while Inter pushed for a lower bar tied to a 12th-place finish, referencing a similar clause in Gennaro Gattuso's contract; the parties appear set to settle on 10th place.
On the resale percentage, Lazio had offered to guarantee Inter 25 per cent of any future sale, well below Inter's initial demand of 50 per cent, with Lazio now understood to be pushing for a reduction to around 40 per cent as the two sides close in on final terms.
Lazio's other priority remains unresolved. The club want Sassuolo's Andrea Pinamonti as their new centre-forward, having already tried and failed to land Franjo Ivanović, Roberto Piccoli and Santiago Giménez this summer. Contact has also been made with Mauro Icardi's camp, though the Argentine remains in the running only loosely, with a gap in valuation still separating the two clubs.
Pinamonti has a contract in Reggio Emilia running to 2027, with an option that could extend it a further year, strengthening Sassuolo's negotiating hand. Lazio would prefer to structure any deal as a loan with a conditional obligation to buy rather than a straight permanent transfer, but Sassuolo are holding out for around €15 million regardless of the mechanism used.
According to Sky Sport, the two sides remain some distance from an agreement, even as the player himself is understood to be pushing to leave Sassuolo, leaving the coming weeks likely to prove decisive one way or another.