Former Lazio sporting director Igli Tare has revealed that the club rejected a bid worth over £85.5m from Manchester United and AC Milan for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Savic was a player Manchester United were after for a long time, but he ended up joining Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal for £34m last summer.
However, Igli Tare in a latest interview has claimed that there are many things reported about the player’s exit that are untrue.
But he confirmed that AC Milan and Manchester United had made offers worth £85.5m for the Serbian which the club rejected.
Igli Tare speaking to TV Play said (via The Sun):
“Many things have been said about Milinkovic-Savic that are not true, from losing him as a free agent to the idea he didn’t want to stay.
“The only true thing is that President Claudio Lotito rejected a very important offer, worth over €100m (£85.5m), from Milan and Manchester United.
“I don’t want to get into why the sale did not go through, as Lotito wanted to maintain a strong squad and keep the promises he had made to the coach.
“Let us not forget that the season which was interrupted by COVID, Lazio were on the verge of winning the Scudetto.”
While he only just moved to Saudi, reports suggests that he wants to leave already. Italian outlet, Il Messaggero, has recently reported that the Serbian has told his former team-mates that he would “like to return” to the club.
He joins the list of players who are seeking an early exit from Saudi Pro League, former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson the latest to have left Al-Ettifaq and joined Ajax.
Savic wants a return to Lazio but there are other clubs interested in him too including Arsenal and Juventus.
He has scored 9 goals and assisted 5 in 22 games so far for Al-Hilal. For Lazio, he scored 69 goals and assisted 59 in 341 games across all competitions.