Leicester City are winning the race to sign Pescara striker Gianluca Lapadula, according to the Serie B outfit's president.
The former Parma forward has scored 24 goals in 38 league games this season, leading to interest from Lazio and Napoli in the 26-year-old.
But Daniele Sebastiani has revealed the Premier League champions are in pole position to secure his signature this summer despite being feaful of a repeat of Marco Verratti's situation, who left the club in 2012 to join Paris Saint-Germain.
"[Lazio President Claudio] Lotito and [sporting director Igli] Tare made their interest in Lapadula clear to me in a recent meeting," he told Radio Incontro Olmypia.
"Lazio are very much interested. They have been monitoring him for some time and they want [to buy] him. However the competition is fierce, both in Italy and abroad.
"Juventus, who have already acquired [Pescara’s Rolando] Mandragora, Napoli and above all Leicester are on the hunt for our striker.
"At the moment [Claudio] Ranieri’s side are decisively ahead, even if, as has happened with Verratti in the past, I would not like to see Lapadula play and succeed in a top European club rather than in a top Italian club.
"In any case we will go over it with the president and sporting director of Lazio."
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