2023-07-10 19:40:10
Lotito’s words came in an interview with “Tag24”, indicating that Savic Milinkovic begged him to “change the scene” following 8 years spent in the Italian capital, Rome, in a deal that will earn the player a wage of 60 million euros over three seasons.
And Italian media reported that Al Hilal agreed to pay 40 million to Lazio in order to complete the deal with the Serbian, whose contract with Lazio expires in June 2024.
Lotito said Lazio received an offer of just under 50 million euros. “When someone leaves to go to Saudi Arabia, his motive is money, but you have to ask him why he wants to leave,” Lotito said.
He added, “I did my best to keep him here, but when he asks to go for his own personal reasons, what should I do? We were ready to extend his contract and increase his salary.”
“At the end of the day, it’s the player who decides what to do with his life. He called me begging me to let him go.”
Milinkovic-Savic scored 69 goals in 341 games since joining Lazio for 10 million euros in 2015, and won the Italian Cup 2019 and the local Super Cup twice, and he was one of his stars when the team, under the supervision of coach Maurizio Sarri, finished second in the First Division and qualified for the Champions League. Europe next season.
And the Saudi League began to sign big names from the major European leagues, thanks to the support of the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
Should Milinkovic-Savic move to Al Hilal, he will join a number of other familiar faces tempted by the prospect of huge salaries.
Last week, Brazilian Roberto Firmino, former Liverpool striker, became the last to move to the Gulf country following signing with Al-Ahly, while Stephen Gerrard, former Liverpool captain, will coach the Al-Ettifaq team.
The French, Karim Benzema and Ngolo Kante, also chose Saudi clubs (Ittihad Jeddah, the league champion), since the transfer of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo to Al-Nassr in January began this trend.
© 2023 AFP
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