‘Green light’ for Man Utd as Juventus withdraw from race to sign World Cup midfielder
Drew Bartle Head Sports Editor
One of the ‘must see’ prospects of this summer’s World Cup Sergej Milinkovic-Savic exited with Serbia in the group stage, but enough could be seen from the 22-year old to suggest why the big clubs are sniffing around his signature from Serie A side Lazio.
The Manchester Evening News via Italian news source Tuttosport are saying that Juventus, who were very keen on bringing the midfielder to Turin, have pulled out of the running to bring in the Serbian star – leaving the door wide open for clubs such as Manchester United, who have Milinkovic-Savic on their shortlist.
Juventus had been keen on some kind of player plus cash transfer deal for Milinkovic-Savic, however Lazio are seemingly holding firm on their asking price for the 22-year old which is in the region of €100 million. The MEN say that Juventus were only willing to go to the maximum of €80 million and have now decided to switch attention to other targets.
Manchester United on the other hand will see what they can do with the price-tag on the midfielder, with €100 million likely to be a stumbling block for Jose Mourinho’s side who have already splashed the cash early on in the transfer window on Fred and Diogo Dalot.
The feeling is that with a new contract for Marouane Fellaini and the signing of Brazilian Fred, amongst an already strong midfield line-up, Man Utd won’t be strong armed into any deal with Lazio. Simply put, a deal to bring Sergej Milinkovic-Savic may just not happen due to the lack of urgency to add to that area of the pitch.
Manchester United however are monitoring proceedings and with the report also saying that Barcelona are interested, anything could happen between now and the transfer windows closure in August.
