Arsenal have held a long-term interest in Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and their chances of signing the player have improved massively recently, according to CalcioMercato.
Although the history of transfers between Italian teams are very popular, and Italian teams could get the midfielder for cheaper, it is reported that Lazio president will not listen to those offers, but rather wait for a Premier League team to approach them, as promised by the player’s agent.
Lazio have already offered the 28-year-old a contract extension, however it is expected that Milinkovic-Savic will reject it and will look for a new club in the summer. Arsenal are one of the teams closely monitoring the situation.
He has been on Mikel Arteta’s shortlist for a very long time, and it looks like the Arsenal boss could get his long-term target ahead of next season, who will provide competition for Granit Xhaka.
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So far this season, he’s played 32 games in the Serie A, scoring six and assisting eight times, with an average rating of 7.36 according to FotMob.
According to reports, Lazio value him at €40m as he enters the final year of his contract with the Italian club, and a move to Arsenal could very well be on the cards, with the Gunners guaranteed Champions League football next season for the first time since 2016/17 season.
Towards the end of last year, Lazio president Claudio Lotito said that he was not interested in selling the Serbian and would instead offer him a new contract: “I will not sell Milinkovic-Savic, I will offer him a renewal. I reiterate, he is now worth £105m, and every month that passes, the price goes up.”
However, Lazio are not in a strong position to demand a high fee a year on due to the player’s contract situation.
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