According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea are just one of several teams who have made enquiries about the availability of Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinković-Savić.
The 25-year-old has been heralded as the next big thing (literally) in midfield since arriving in Rome from Genk in 2015. In the five seasons since, he’s played 193 matches for Lazio in all competitions, scoring 36 goals from central and attacking midfield roles.
Interest in the Serbia international was at its peak following the 2017-18 season, when he scored 14 goals and looked like one of the most dominant midfielders in Europe. But after the prolonged drama of his potential exit, which of course included a Chelsea angle, he decided to stay and sign a new five-year contract, which was reported to carry a €150m release clause.
SMS may not have hit the heights he was expected to back then, but that also means that his price tag may be more reasonable. The Mail believe that bidding could start as low as £50m, though the pandemic might depress the market even further. Of course, with the likes of Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Spurs also said to be interested, the price could also be driven up quite easily.
Chelsea might have a slight advantage with former Blue Mateja Kežman working as a representative for Milinković-Savić. Kežman is clearly fond of his one-season stay at Stamford Bridge, and we’ve worked him before in a non-playing capacity as well when he was director of football at FK Vojvodina.
If Chelsea’s intentions are to boost our midfield, Milinković-Savić is one of the best players we could actually acquire from the market. Get him alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek and N’Golo Kanté, and we would get to watch a midfield Cerberus tear our opponents into itty bitty little pieces.