‘World’s best’ youngster Milinkovic-Savic more expensive than Pogba

Lazio president Claudio Lotito claimed midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is worth more than Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, stating the Serbian is “much stronger”.

Milinkovic-Savic has been the subject of persistent rumours linking him with a move away from Lazio, where he has been one of the club’s top performers since arriving from Genk in August 2015.

The 23-year-old is reportedly being tracked by Lazio’s Serie A rivals Juventus and AC Milan as well as Real Madrid and Manchester United, but Lotito said no offers for the player have been made since 2017.

“Sergej is the best young player on the world scene, with huge potential,” Lotito told Corriere della Sera .

“I have not received any official offers either from Milan or Juventus, let alone from Real or United.

“Of course, I do not push to sell him but if you ask me how much he is worth then I remember that last year, August 29, I refused a €110 million offer.”

Milinkovic-Savic scored 12 goals in 35 Serie A appearances as Lazio finished fifth in 2017-18, before playing in all three of Serbia’s games at the World Cup.

Lotito indicated that he may be willing to part with the playmaker should an offer in excess of the €105 million that Manchester United paid for Pogba were to arrive.

“How much has Pogba been sold to Manchester? €105 million?” said Lotito. “So Milinkovic is worth more, because he is much stronger.

“And be clear, I’m not interested in technical counterparts or loan-type formulas.”

On 31 July 2015, it was announced that Milinković-Savić would join Italian club Lazio.He made his debut for the side in a 1–0 home win over Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the Champions League play-off round on 18 August 2015.

Milinković-Savić scored his first goal for Lazio in a 1–1 Europa League draw with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 17 September 2015.He scored his first Serie A goal in a 3–1 away win over Fiorentina on 9 January 2016. Over the course of his debut season, Milinković-Savić made 35 appearances and scored three goals for Lazio in all competitions.

In his second season at Lazio, Milinković-Savić scored seven goals from 39 appearances (league and cup).

In October 2015, Milinković-Savić received his first call-up to the full squad by manager Radovan Ćurčić for Serbia’s UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers against Albania and Portugal.He remained an unused substitute in both games. In May 2016, Milinković-Savić was selected by newly appointed manager Slavoljub Muslin for friendly matches against Cyprus, Israel, and Russia.

However, after failing to receive any playing time in the first two games, Milinković-Savić left the team in agreement with Muslin who said that some other players better fit into his tactical formations.

Milinković-Savić represented Serbia at the 2013 UEFA Under-19 Championship, winning the gold medal. He played the full 90 minutes in four out of five games, including the final match of the competition against France that Serbia won 1–0.Subsequently, Milinković-Savić appeared at the 2014 UEFA Under-19 Championship, as the team was eliminated in the semi-final by Portugal after penalties. He missed Serbia’s last spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out.

The following summer, Milinković-Savić was one of Serbia’s most influential players at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, as the team won the tournament.

He appeared in six out of seven games and scored one goal against Mali in the group stage. Due to his performances during the tournament, Milinković-Savić was awarded the Bronze Ball.

In the summer of 2017, Lazio prevented Milinković-Savić from playing at the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

On 30 October 2017, it was announced that Serbia caretaker manager Mladen Krstajić included Milinković-Savić in the squad for friendlies against China and South Korea.

In June 2018 he was selected in the Serbian squad for the 2018 World Cup, playing all three group stage matches. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic has established himself as a ‘complete midfielder’, in the modern sense of the term, which earned him Paul Pogba of Serbia.

Comparable to players such as Zinedine Zidane and Yaya Touré, Milinkovic-Savic blends the traditional attacking movement and finishing ability of an attack midfielder, with the height and physicality of a target man or defensive midfielder.