Man Utd are wasting their time on €140m Milinkovic-Savic

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
• 4 min read

Manchester United may have to give up on signing Sergej Milinkovic-Savic this summer after Lazio president Claudio Lotito declared that the midfielder is not for sale.

United have made the signing of a top-class midfielder one of their priorities this summer.

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No club has been linked more to the giant Serbian than Man Utd over recent seasons and they are again leading the chase for him.

Milinkovic-Savic, 27, is similar in style to Paul Pogba and thus would be the ideal replacement for the Frenchman, who should leave on a Bosman transfer when his contract expires at the end of the season.

READ MORE: Five midfielders who could transfer to Man Utd this summer

SMS, as he is often known, has been one of the best midfielders in Serie A for the past half-decade.

He played a key role as the club went close to winning their first Scudetto in almost two decades in the 2019-20 season.

And he has enjoyed another fantastic campaign this time around, hitting double digits for both goals and assists.

But United may be wise to end their chase now while we are still in May, given the recent comments of Lotito.

What did Lotito say?

“You always talk about money,” Lotito told reporters.

“Milinkovic is not for sale, I rate him a lot. I have never put him up for sale, is there a ‘for sale’ sign? In order to sign him, you need someone to sell him.

“I rate Milinkovic a lot, he is a game-changer and we have a great relationship. If a big club comes in for him, I would ask the player what he wants to do.

“At my club, we prioritise the human over the financial [aspects]. When I received an offer of €140 million, I didn’t sell him.

“I am the only case in world history. Today there is an issue with regards to respect towards the man and player.”

Lotito is notorious for being extremely difficult to do business with.

He is a president who can be compared with Tottenham owner Daniel Levy, who infamously refused to even pick up the phone from Manchester City when they tried to buy Harry Kane last summer.

Lotito has always resisted offers for his best players over the past seasons, with other stars like Ciro Immobile, Luis Alberto and Manuel Lazzari all having bids for them rejected by the president.

Milinkovic-Savic has received either concrete bids or heavy interest from many of Europe’s biggest clubs in the last years, including Juventus, PSG, Real Madrid and particularly Man Utd.

But Lotito has always erected a wall, or made completely outrageous demands from interested parties.

Given the amount of work that Man Utd must do this summer in the transfer market (and the reports they will only have a transfer budget of €117m), it is probably for the best that they don’t waste their time trying to do business with Lotito.