Manchester United are interested in a deal to bring Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to Old Trafford in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Italian publication Il Messaggero (via Sport Witness), who claim that both Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United and Mauricio Pochettino’s Paris Saint-Germain have submitted offers worth €65m (£55m) to Lazio for the central midfielder.

However, the report goes on to state that, while it is widely expected that the 27-year-old will leave Rome this summer, Lazio president Claudio Lotito is unlikely to be willing to part with the Serbia international for anything less than a figure of around €80m (£67.5m).

Bye-bye Pogba

Considering that it very much appears as if Paul Pogba has now played his last game for United, it is easy to see why Rangnick and the United board would be interested in a move for Milinkovic-Savic this summer.

Indeed, the 27-year-old has been incredibly impressive throughout his near seven-year spell with Lazio, scoring 56 goals and registering 51 assists over his 290 appearances for the club – helping his side lift the 2018/19 Coppa Italia and two Italian Super Cups along the way.

The £63m-rated dynamo has been in particularly fine form over his 33 Serie A outings this season, scoring nine goals, providing 11 assists and creating ten big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.9 shots and making 1.3 key passes per game.

The £95k-per-week central midfielder has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, enjoying an average of 79.7 touches per fixture, in addition to making an average of 0.9 interceptions, 1.9 tackles, 2.2 long balls, 1.2 clearances and winning seven duels – at a success rate of 52% – per appearance.

These returns have seen the player who journalist David Amoyal dubbed “unreal” average a rather breathtaking SofaScore match rating of 7.27, not only ranking him as Maurizio Sarri’s joint best performer in the Italian top flight but also the joint 12th-best player in the league as a whole.

As such, considering his undoubted ability at both ends of the pitch, it would indeed appear as if Milinkovic-Savic would be a perfect replacement for the outbound Pogba – not to mention a signing United could very easily afford if they were to get the Frenchman’s enormous £290k-per-week wages off of their books this summer.

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