Torino president Urbano Cairo has revealed they had to convince midfielder Sasa Lukic to join Fulham last month as it was best for the club.
Lukic joined Marco Silva’s side in a €9.1m deal from Torino on deadline day of the January transfer window, after months of speculation about his future.
His deal with the Serie A side had been due to expire in the summer, meaning he was free to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with clubs around Europe.
That would not have been ideal for Torino, who would have been set to miss out on a transfer fee for one of their most saleable assets.
That eventually didn’t happen as Fulham moved to secure him and provide Torino with some form of income rather than losing him on a free.
It seems the Italian side had to convince the player, though, as he was more than happy to wait until the summer to sort out his future.
“I was sorry, I wouldn’t have wanted to sell him,” OK Calciomercato report Cairo saying.
“I was very close to him, because he came to us in 2016 when he was a kid. Today if we hadn’t sold him, we would have lost him for zero in a year’s time for sure, because he would never have signed the renewal.
“Our coach also convinced him, and in this he helped us: he did a good job on him to make him understand that going to Fulham was better for him too.
“Otherwise, Lukic would not have signed for the transfer. The coach told me earlier in the dressing room: he was kind.”
