Look, we’re all for big transfer rumours and ridiculous claims, but it feels like Corriere dello Sport on Friday are taking it a bit too far with their front page.
The Italian newspaper go all out and claim that Paris Saint-Germain, a club desperately scrambling around to sell players in order to meet FFP requirements after their great summer expenditure, are ready to spend €170m on Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
The Serbian midfielder, a well-known Manchester United favourite, has been in great form this season for the Serie A side, and while there’s little chance of him leaving in January, a departure in the summer is not to be excluded, especially if someone meets Lazio’s alleged asking price of around €100m.
Jose Mourinho’s reported admiration for the player, who he’s said to be ‘enchanted’ by, has been justified on repeated occasions and ‘SMS’ looks set to be a star of the market.
What makes us doubt this story a bit more than usual is the fact Corriere make it very clear the information is coming from Rome and not Paris.
It almost seems as if someone at Lazio is trying to drive up the price of a player they know will be highly in demand next summer, and who better to use to do that than the club who spent €222m in the summer on someone and will pay about €130m for another once his loan comes to an end in June?
Rest assured, however, as Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus are obviously all mentioned in the article too.
Much like they did with the Red Devils, Corriere claim that Jorge Mendes could be involved in any Paris Saint-Germain deal taking the Serbian to the French capital, although Lazio could also get a couple of talented youngsters from Gestifute to sweeten the deal too.
We’ll believe it when we see it.
Earlier this month it was reported in Italy that Manchester United could pay €100m to Lazio to complete a deal, and that looked a lofty amount and still does.
