Kenneth Taylor's Goal Seals Lazio's 6-3 Victory After Training Bust-Up

Kenneth Taylor needed only a few days to answer Gennaro Gattuso. And he did it in the most direct way a footballer can: with a goal.

The Dutch midfielder, at the centre of a stormy training-ground flashpoint earlier in the week, came off the bench on Saturday and closed out Lazio’s wild 6-3 friendly win over Avellino. One mistake in the opposition defence, one sharp reaction, one tidy finish. Full stop. Statement made.

From training bust-up to match-winner

The build-up had been anything but calm. Radio Laziale cameras on Thursday captured an irate Gattuso ordering Taylor off the training pitch, the Lazio coach visibly furious as the session boiled over. The exact trigger for the row has not emerged, but the images were enough to ignite speculation around Rome and beyond.

Taylor’s camp moved quickly. His agent, Guido Albers, told De Telegraaf that “emotions did indeed run high for a moment, but it was merely a storm in a teacup,” stressing that Gattuso actually appreciates Taylor’s personality and his on-pitch edge. In other words: confrontation, yes; crisis, no.

Saturday’s friendly offered the first real test of that version of events. Gattuso turned to Taylor in the second half against Avellino, and the 22-year-old responded exactly as a coach wants a challenged player to respond. He pressed, he chased, he stayed alive to a defensive lapse and, when the chance came, he finished with composure to make it 6-3 and put the game to bed.

A turbulent few days, neatly wrapped in one clinical touch.

Future still under the microscope

The goal may have calmed the noise around the training incident, but it has not silenced the questions about Taylor’s future in Rome. In Italy, doubts linger over whether the former Ajax midfielder is a long-term fit for Lazio’s evolving project under Gattuso.

Interest from the Premier League has been reported, and Taylor is an obvious profile for English clubs: young, technically polished, already tested in European football. His numbers since arriving in January underline that there is a player worth watching. Lazio paid just under €17 million to bring him in from Ajax, and he responded with 21 appearances in his first half-season, contributing 3 goals and 2 assists.

He is not a short-term asset, either. Taylor is tied to Lazio until mid-2030, a contract that gives the club leverage and options. They can build around him, or they can cash in if the right offer arrives. Performances like Saturday’s, even in a friendly, only strengthen their hand.

For now, the immediate narrative has flipped. From being sent off the training pitch to delivering the final act in a nine-goal game, Taylor has shown the sort of resilience Gattuso has always demanded as a player and now as a coach.

If this really was just a storm in a teacup, the next question is the one that matters most: will Kenneth Taylor turn this uneasy week into the start of a permanent place at the heart of Lazio’s midfield, or into his springboard out of Rome?