While the stories of Sergej Milinković-Savić leaving Lazio have died down somewhat, the end result is still expected to be the same: he will need to be replaced.
As has been the case since the very beginning, the man Maurizio Sarri would prefer for the job is Ruben Loftus-Cheek, currently at Chelsea.
The midfielder, while used by Thomas Tuchel during the recently finished season, is a favourite of the Italian’s, who enjoyed working with him during their time together at Stamford Bridge.
The problem, as tends to be the case in transfers going from the Premier League to Serie A, is the financial aspect of things.
It’s made clear by Gazzetta dello Sport that Sarri ‘will call him to test his willingness to move to Italy’ in what would be a ‘complex operation’.
The belief is that Lazio could increase his wages from €3.5m/year to somewhere around €4m, but then there is ‘the need to talk to Chelsea’.
They would probably be open to an exit at the right price, and would ‘still ask for an important sum, at least €20m’, mostly because the player’s contract in London expires in 2024.
Either way, this is ‘an operation Lazio will try to close’, and it’s clear that should one of Milinković-Savić or Luis Alberto be sold, ‘the deal would become necessary and therefore much more probable’.
