According to a recent report by the Express, Fiorentina’s Chief Executive Officer Pantaleo Corvino has revealed that Manchester United’s offer to bring Nikola Milenkovic to Old Trafford has been rejected by the Italian club.
The same report mentions an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, where Corvino said, “We rejected great offers from Lyon for [Jordan] Veretout, from Marseille for Simeone and from Manchester United for Nikola Milenkovic,”
[Aurelio] De Laurentiis pressed for [Federico] Chiesa. This is the right way to grow.”
The Express has also claimed that Fiorentina are looking for a fee in the region of £45m for their prized asset. This recent development will be another big blow for the Red Devils and their attempts to land a quality defender during this January transfer period.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has made a terrific start to life as the interim manager at Old Trafford having won all of his eight matches so far. His team managed to beat Arsenal in a convincing fashion on Friday but they failed to keep a clean sheet on the night which will be a cause for concern.
United have had their fair share of defensive problems this season, so it is high time that the club addressed some of their issues at the back by bringing in a capable centre-back before next Thursday’s transfer deadline.
Milenkovic has played in 19 matches for the Florence outfit this term, making an average of 1.9 tackles per game in the Serie A. At such a young age; he has also managed to secure ten international caps for the Serbian national team so far.
The 21-year-old is a very reliable defender at the back and can make timely interceptions for his team as evidenced by his record of making 1.4 successful interceptions per match this season. He is also a threat on the offensive end of the pitch during set-pieces and has averaged 0.8 shots per game which is a pretty high average for a centre-back.
The Serbian wonderkid is highly versatile as he primarily operates as a centre-half but is also capable of filling in at right-back if needed. Hence, he will be a good fit for the Red Devils as they look to find some success under their interim boss, Solskjær in the second half of this campaign. Thus, it is a no-brainer for Ed Woodward and co. to go back in for the player with an improved offer before the end of this transfer window.
