Italian journalist Giulio Cardone believes Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic would “consider” joining Arsenal if they make a “fair proposal” in January.
Milinkovic-Savic has been strongly linked with a move to the Premier League for about four years now.
Manchester United have probably been mentioned alongside his name more than any other English side, while Arsenal have been linked an awful lot recently.
Mikel Arteta could do with bolstering his midfield, and Milinkovic-Savic does look like a player who could thrive in Granit Xhaka’s box-to-box midfield role.
The 27-year-old has been with Lazio since 2015 after they paid €12million to sign him from Belgian side KRC Genk.
He has played over 300 times for the Serie A outfit and has also made 39 appearances for Serbia.
Milinkovic-Savic’s asking price has fluctuated for fun over the last year or so.
The average price he seems to be worth is probably in the region of £80m – if you look at everything that has been said about him in 2022.
However, the Serbian is out of contract in 2024 and his situation could force Lazio to cash in, unless they are happy to lose him for nothing as long as he sees out the entirety of his deal.
Speaking in October, Lazio president Claudio Lotito issued a hands-off warning, telling interested clubs that Milinkovic-Savic is worth “€120m” and “every month that passes, the price goes up”.
Two months have passed, so who knows if there are a few quid added on, or a few million, or perhaps even tens of millions.
The reality of the situation is that no club is going to pay that amount for the player, but Lazio would probably consider an appealing bid.
And according to Cardone, Arsenal actually made an approach to sign Milinkovic-Savic during the summer transfer window.
After the Gunners finished fifth in the Premier League in 2021-22, the experienced midfielder was not keen, however, Arteta’s side are now top of the table, meaning he is now suddenly interested. Ugh… men.
Cardone told Radiosei: “Arsenal on Milinkovic? The news is that the player has changed his opinion on the English club which already tried to approach him last summer.
“If a fair proposal were to arrive this time, he would consider it.
“Today the Gunners are dominating the Premier League, they will go to the Champions League, they have started a fascinating project, they have acquired a different appeal.
“Agent [Mateja] Kezman has been probing various clubs for some time to then bring offers to Lazio. By the summer he had garnered serious interest from the London club and Newcastle.
“Situations declined, but things could change next summer. It will be an important push and pull.”
Arsenal get their domestic season back underway against West Ham United on Boxing Day.
They are expected to be busy in January, especially in forward areas following Gabriel Jesus’ injury.
The former Manchester City star is expected to miss at least three months of action after undergoing knee surgery.
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