Man Utd transfer: Sporting director confirms Red Devils £85m bid for midfielder

Joe Williams
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag
Erik ten Hag claps the supporters after a Premier League match.

Lazio sporting director Igli Tare has confirmed that they received a €100m bid Sergej Milinkovic-Savic before he made the move to Saudi Arabia.

The Serbia international was consistently linked with a big-money move away from Lazio in his final few years at the Serie A club.

However, rumours of a big move across Europe naturally stopped when he decided to leave the continent altogether to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in the summer transfer window in a deal worth around €40m.

The midfielder has scored eight goals in 15 Saudi Pro League matches this season at Al-Hilal after contributing nine goals and eight assists for Lazio last term.

Man Utd were the main club linked to Milinkovic-Savic before he made the move to the Middle East and Lazio sporting director Tare has revealed that the Serie A club received a bid of €100m (£85m).

“A lot of things have been said about Milinkovic-Savic that are not true, from his departure at zero to the fact that he didn’t want to stay, the only thing that is true is that Lotito turned down a very important offer, over €100m, from AC Milan and Manchester United,” Tare told TuttoMercatoWeb.

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“I don’t want to judge the non-sale, even though there was a question of balance, but Lotito’s choices were to keep a strong team and respect the promises made to the coach. Let’s not forget that in the year of the Covid, Lazio was on the verge of winning the Scudetto.”

There is little chance Man Utd can make a bid of that kind in the January transfer window with Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag confirming he can’t make a purchase because of Financial Fair Play rules.

Man Utd could do with a new striker as they’ve only scored 24 goals in 21 matches this season but Ten Hag revealed the bad news at his press conference on Friday.

“I looked but there is no space,” Man Utd boss Ten Hag said. “No space on FFP to do something about this lack of quantity in the striker position.

“Of course, we have (Marcus) Rashford who can play as a striker, I think also we have some other alternatives, creative.

“It’s clear now Anthony is out for a couple of months. It’s a gap in our squad. Clear.”