Reported West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur target Nikola Milenkovic never wanted to leave Italy for the Premier League this summer, Fiorentina director general Joe Barone has told Tuttomercatoweb.
Were the London giants simply wasting their time?
West Ham, after all, had spent the best part of 12 months trying to lure Milenkovic to the London Stadium.
The club made a handful of bids in that time too, offering £13 million only last week as a deal for the 6ft 5in Serbia international looked to be edging ever closer (Corriere dello Sport).
But just to add to a growing sense of frustration among a fanbase already concerned about a lack of additions to David Moyes’ side, the long-awaited transfer fell through at the eleventh hour.
At least West Ham won’t have to endure the ignominy of seeing Milenkovic join bitter rivals Spurs instead.
Instead, the former Partizan Belgrade youngster has put pen to paper on a new two-year deal at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, committing his future to Fiorentina until 2023.
Should West Ham and Tottenham feel aggrieved about the Nikola Milenkovic farce?
“An important day,” says Joe Barone, a man who sounds more like a gun-toting bad guy in a crime thriller than a football director.
“I want to thank the president (Rocco Commisso), who allows us to keep a player like Milenkovic here.
“(He is) a young international player who has experience in Serie A and this means a lot to all of us.
“In the last two years, we have had a path of suffering but he is a guy who has always united the team, who gives his all – and this makes us happy.
“He never asked to leave and we always kept talking about the renewal – and now here he is.”
Milenkovic, as reported by Tuttomercatoweb, added: “I’m very happy and proud about the renewal. I want to say, first of all, that I never asked to leave despite big offers from important European clubs.”
This time next year, however, Milenkovic will presumably find himself in a similar position – courting interest from abroad while just 12 months away from free agency.
The saga isn’t over. It’s merely on pause.
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