Lazio’s Milinkovic-Savic joined Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia

Juventus gets nothing

This article was first published at 4:47 p.m. on July 11 and was updated after the transfer was confirmed.

Update July 12, 9:04 p.m.: It’s now official: Sergej Milinković-Savić leaves Lazio after eight years. The 28-year-old signs with Saudi record champions Al-Hilal SFC. Lazio president Claudio Lotito recently confirmed to ‘Il Messaggero’ newspaper the upcoming deal and the Serbia international’s willingness to accept Saudi Arabia’s offer.

Journalist Alfredo Pedullà recently reported that only Lotito’s signature on the transfer deal was missing before Milinković-Savić could travel to Riyadh to sign his own contract. It’s now done.

The transfer fee for the Italian finalists’ squad’s most valuable player is said to be €40m with a one-year deal remaining. Al-Hilal thus increase their own spending this summer to 118 million euros, which is 10 million euros less than Real Madrid. The club, which belongs to the Saudi investment fund PIF chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, had previously recruited future midfield partner Rúben Neves (26) and defender Kalidou Koulibaly (32). Al-Hilal’s spending is already a Saudi national record – as is the €55m fee for Neves.

With the bonuses Milinković-Savić would earn up to 30 million euros per year in the capital, with Lazio it would have been 3.2 million euros net. Lotito previously stressed he didn’t want to sell the professional, who has contributed 69 goals and 59 assists in 341 games since 2015, won the Coppa Italia once and the Supercoppa twice and moved up to seventh place. among the record holders of Lazio, but this one asked him. « He called me and begged me to let him go. I tried several times to persuade him to stay, until the last time I tried to keep him, I was ready to extend his stay. contract and to increase the salary to 6 million (net), but Sergei told me that he was after wants to change the scenery in Lazio for eight years, « he said, quoted by ‘Messaggero’.

Lotito on Al-Hilal’s wooing of Milinković-Savić: « Pay money, see camels »

Regarding the agreement with Al-Hilal, Lotito had held back until the end: « If the contract is not signed and the payment is not made, he will go to the training camp. « money, seeing camels. These are life choices. I would not have met those, but obviously the 18 million (base salary) per season are his motivation. (…) The relationship with him has always been very good. If he wants to go to Arabia, the motive is only money, there can’t be anything else, but it’s ok: I promised the boy that I would accept the bid minimum. »

With that, Lotito appears to be settling for far less than he might have taken with Milinković-Savić in the past. In 2018, his market value peaked at €90 million. AC Milan, who at the time were paying around 200 million euros for players like Lucas Paquetá, Krzysztof Piatek and Nikola Kalinic, were willing to shell out up to 140 million in bonuses, Lotito says: « It’s true I decided to turn down a €140m offer from Milan for Milinković-Savić in 2018. The offer was €60m fixed plus €80m in bonuses payable in five installments if they qualified for the Champions League. I do not regret it. »

A year before the end of the contract, however, their own Champions League qualification was not enough to convince the Serbs to stay. After all: With the transfer, Lotito achieved his goal of not strengthening any direct rivals, especially Juventus were seen as very interested. Piotr Zielinski (29) of champion SSC Napoli, whose contract also ends in 2024, has been swapped as a potential right-(Site notre bureau spécialisé)ed successor.

Souls that flourish on « gold » #AlHilal pic.twitter.com/IfqZmjvvGZ

— AlHilal Saudi Club (@Alhilal_EN) July 12, 2023

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