Stav Lemkin's name has surfaced in Italy, with Lazio reportedly weighing up the Israel international as they look to refresh an ageing back line ahead of the rest of the transfer window.
ONE, citing the Italian outlet Tuttomercatoweb, reports that the Rome club sees the 23-year-old Twente centre-back as one of several defensive options under consideration. The report frames Lemkin as a name on Lazio's radar rather than a player they have moved for, with no bid or fee mentioned.
The interest, as reported, stems from uncertainty at the heart of Lazio's defence. Alessio Romagnoli's proposed move to Qatari club Al-Sadd has stalled — a deal that had appeared close before talks slowed amid the Gulf state's period of mourning following the death of the former Emir — leaving his long-term future at the club unresolved. Lazio are said to want to "thicken and refresh" their back line regardless of how the Romagnoli situation resolves itself.
It is a striking twist for a player who only completed his move to the Eredivisie a year ago. Lemkin joined Twente from Shakhtar Donetsk last summer in a deal reported at around €1.5 million, ending a spell in Ukraine that began in July 2023 after he broke through at Hapoel Tel Aviv.
His path to Enschede ran through Israeli football's biggest stage on the way: after his Hapoel Tel Aviv debut in April 2022, Shakhtar sent him on loan to Maccabi Tel Aviv for the 2024-25 season, where he featured regularly before completing his switch to Twente.
This past season he was a fixture for Twente, making 29 appearances across all competitions for around 2,430 minutes and scoring once — a workload that has clearly caught scouts' attention beyond the Netherlands.
A separate report on the Dutch fan site Twenteinsite.nl, sourced to forum discussion around the club, similarly floated Lazio's interest, suggesting the Serie A side view Lemkin as a fit given their ageing centre-back options behind new arrival Danilho Doekhi. That account, however, rests on unverified forum commentary rather than reporting from an established outlet, and should be read as considerably softer than the Tuttomercatoweb line picked up by ONE.
Nothing here amounts to an approach, let alone an agreement, and Lemkin is understood to be settled at Twente for now. But at a time when Lazio are actively rebuilding their defence, his name entering the conversation in Italy is notable in its own right for a player who has risen fast through Israeli, Ukrainian and now Dutch football in the space of three years.
