Report: Arsenal can sign Sergej Milinkovic-Savic for a hugely discounted fee

By Shamanth Jayaram

Arsenal have long been linked with a move to sign Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and the Serbian is now reportedly available for a bargain fee.

Mikel Arteta’s men are flying in the Premier League at the moment. They are five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, and there is hope among Gunners fans that they can go on and win it.

Irrespective of what happens in the league this season, Arsenal are almost guaranteed to strengthen their side this summer, especially their midfield. Milinkovic-Savic is said to be on Arteta’s wish list.

Arsenal can sign Sergej Milinkovic-Savic for a hugely discounted fee

Milinkovic-Savic has been linked with a move to the Premier League for years now.

The Serbian has consistently been one of the best midfielders in Serie A, and it was never a surprise that some of the biggest clubs in the country were interested in signing him.

However, the stumbling block has always been his mammoth price tag. Lazio president Claudio Lotito publicly slapped a £105 million asking price for Milinkovic-Savic ahead of the January transfer window.

Unsurprisingly, no club matched that figure, but Gazzetta dello Sport report now that Milinkovic-Savic could now be available for less than a third of that above-mentioned fee.

The report claims that Lazio are ready to let him go for £44 million this summer, but the Serbian’s agents think they can bring that figure even lower. It has been claimed that they are pushing to secure a deal for Milinkovic-Savic for a fee in the region of £30 million-£35 million.

That would be a bargain for Arsenal, who spent more than that to sign Shkodran Mustafi (BBC) almost seven years ago.

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Signing Milinkovic-Savic for around £30 million really is a no-brainer.

The 28-year-old has been directly involved in at least 15 league goals in each of the last three seasons. He is well on course to achieve that this campaign as well, and he is in the prime years of his career.

Arsenal have done a tremendous job of distributing goals around their team this season, but you can never say no to more. The addition of Milinkovic-Savic, who has been hailed as the ‘best midfielder in the world‘ by his club’s president, could make the Gunners an even more dangerous side next season.

It will be interesting to see what will happen with Milinkovic-Savic this summer, but it really does look like he will leave Lazio for a bigger club.