Lazio president Claudio Lotito underlined the club’s desire to renew the contract of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and gave his thoughts on the investigations into Juventus.
The 27-year-old Serbian midfielder only has around 18 months left on his contract with the Biancocelesti and the Roman club are desperate to tie him down to a new deal, not wanting to lose him in the coming months.
Juventus have been increasingly linked with a move for Milinkovic-Savic but it’s unclear if the ongoing investigations into their financial practices will impact their transfer market manoeuvrability or not.
Speaking after receiving the Colalucci award (via LazioNews24), Lotito first discussed the contract renewal talks with Milinkovic-Savic.
Contracts are done when they expire. From a technical point of view we have an interest in renewing him because he is a great player and a great man, I hope that the player will do the same.
Appointment on the agenda? What are we doing the transfer market?!? In life everything that begins has an end, starting with life itself.
Milinkovic-Savic is a player Lazio are banking on, he is an added value. What’s missing are presidents, we have no problem finding players or coaches. There are only a few Italians left who do it with dedication. Money is not everything in life, ideas count.
He spoke about Juventus’ precarious situation and the investigations into their financial practices.
I’m not a magistrate. Everyone when they win jumps on the bandwagon, then they run away when there’s a problem by running away from the people they all drank from. For example there are those who cashed in €160m for two players.
Today everyone speaks badly of Juve, but they have contributed to the livelihood of Italian football. Is there a risk of the investigation widening? I don’t know, I don’t know the behaviour of other teams.
Surely it won’t expand to involve Lazio, for me that’s a matter of pride and peace of mind. Above all because of the way I started, a dramatic situation.
The Lazio president commented on the work of his former Juventus counterpart Andrea Agnelli.
I saw him in the Senate and hugged him. Did I recommend anything? No, no problem. He gave me an unfair impression from a human point of view compared to what he has given to Italian football.
To say that Juve are the evil of Italian football is unfair. Today everyone goes out of their way to create dissent against Juventus. Politics is one thing, human value is another. Andrea is a working man.
We used to meet at my office at 8am, that means he woke up at 5am, at 6am. I don’t know what they are, I am for values. When one has value, one puts it on the field. Facts count, in life facts count and not words.
Finally, Lotito discussed the Italian national team and Ciro Immobile’s goal scoring issues in an Azzurri shirt.
With Italy out of the World Cup, some people should ask themselves questions and give themselves answers.
I don’t think it depends on Serie A, it doesn’t mean that there are no quality footballers in Italy. I ask myself questions, how come Immobile became top scorer and Golden Boot winner and in the national team he doesn’t score as much.