Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is about to sign a contract in Saudi Arabia. The midfielder leaves Lazio after eight seasons. Italian media know that he will sign a three-year contract with Al Hilal and that he will earn Lazio about forty million euros. A lot less than the club could have gotten for the Serb.
Not 140 but 40 million for Lazio: Milinkovic-Savic on his way out
Milinkovic-Savic was one of the best midfielders on European fields for many years, but both he and the club management always resisted the interest of superpowers. Club president Claudio Lotito recently revealed that he was approached by AC Milan a few years ago and rejected an offer of 140 million euros. “I don’t regret that,” he said in conversation with Il Messaggero.
Nevertheless, Lazio has to make do with a much smaller fee a few years later. Milinkovic-Savic still had a contract until 2024 in Rome, allowing Al Hilal to strike for a lower amount. In Saudi Arabia, Milinkovic-Savic will be a teammate of Rúben Neves and Kalidou Koulibaly. He has played a total of 267 Serie A matches since Lazio took over from RC Genk in 2015.
Unstoppable: oldest veteran (56) will ‘just’ continue for a year
Continuing with Asian football, Kazuyoshi Miura is simply unstoppable. The 56-year-old Japanese is going for his 39th season as a professional football player. The Portuguese club Oliveirense announced on Tuesday that Miura will be loaned again from Yokohama FC next season.
Miura made his comeback in Europe in the winter. In the nineties he already played for Genoa and Dinamo Zagreb. And at the age of 55 the Japanese went for a new adventure. In the service of Oliveirense, he made just three appearances in Portugal’s second level, but that did not stop the club from extending the lease with Yokohama.
As a result, Miura will also play in Portugal in the new season. The 89-time international of Japan, who played his last game for the national team in 2000, has more than seven hundred games and almost two hundred goals to his name across all club competitions. The link between Yokohama and Oliveirense was quickly established. The Japanese club is owned by the Onodera Group, which owns more than half of Oliveirense’s shares.
