Davide Frattesi Scout Report At Lazio 2026/2027: How Gennaro Gattuso Tactics Built Around His Biggest Strengths - Player Analysis

Davide Frattesi has struggled to find a settled role since leaving Sassuolo in the summer of 2023.

After developing at the Emilia-Romagna club, he moved to Inter Milan for €26.4m.

His 122 games for I Nerazzurri were largely successful from a silverware point of view, with two Serie A titles and one Coppa Italia title to his name, as well as a UEFA Champions League runners-up medal.

On the pitch, however, he was never an assured starter.

In his three seasons at San Siro, he played 27.9, 35.8 and then 16.6% of available minutes in the league.

That, alongside the Cristian Chivu-led side's recruitment of Curtis Jones and Aleksandar Stanković, has taken him back to where it all began.

Frattesi is from the city of Rome.

He joined Lazio in 2006 as an eight-year-old and was there until 2014 (when he joined cross-city rivals, AS Roma).

He's now re-joined on loan with an option to buy (reported to be around €10m with a 50% future sell-on clause).

Under Gennaro Gattuso tactics, it's almost unquestionable that the club will pay it.

This Davide Frattesi scout report and player analysis looks at how the Italian manager is playing to Frattesi's strengths.

Davide Frattesi Positioning

Davide Frattesi Heat Map 2026/2027

While the sample size of six games is not enough to form a full picture, we can already get a good idea of what Gennaro Gattuso is trying to do.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup winner has preferred a 4-3-3 formation with Lazio this term.

Ideally, something like we see below.

This was rather unexpected, as all the signs throughout Gattuso’s managerial career pointed towards a back three, but so far, it’s working.

They use a flat back four with attacking full-backs that look to get up and down, with Nuno Tavares one of the biggest creative outlets in the team.

The defensive midfielder will constantly sit at the base of the three, sometimes dropping back into the defensive line to form a back five/three.

The left-hand-sided No. 8, usually Kenneth Taylor, is much more two-way and likes the ball at his feet.

That leaves Frattesi, who is able to have much more of a free role. 

As we can see in the heat map, Frattesi’s biggest impact is in the attacking third rather than the defensive one.

He wants to get into those spaces behind the lines and into the box.

Ahead of him, the attacking unit has a striker they can play off of, with both Mattia Zaccagni and Gustav Isaksen being very ball-to-feet attackers who like to come inside, creating space for the full-backs to overlap.

Davide Frattesi Attacking Prowess

Frattesi has been in great goalscoring form so far this season.

He has three goals in his first nine games for Lazio, from a total of 13 shots.

It's always been a talent of his, with his ability to box-crash being a key skill.