Serbia's Partizan Belgrade agrees 5.5 million euro transfer of young defender to Serie A club

Partizan defender Strahinja Pavlovic played his last match against Rad last night as the club's first team player, and will on Monday join the ranks of Lazio.

The black-and-whites (Partizan) will earn around 5,500,000 euros from the transfer, while the young footballer will sign a five-year contract with the Roman club. Lazio's official offer arrived at the table of the Serbian Cup winners - and was accepted without delay.

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The entire deal will be concluded during a closing meeting today between the three parties.

However, Pavlovic and Partizan will not yet say goodbye to each other, as the footballer will continue wear a black-and-white jersey as Lazio's player on loan at Partizan on Thursday, in a Europa League qualifier against Norway's Molde. This is actually a art of the two clubs' agreement, according to which the defender will stay in Belgrade until the end of the current season, and only then move to Rome and join his new club.

Photo: Nikola Tomic

This, of course, has certain side effects. Thus Partizan will collect the aforementioned figure, but will be left without a percentage from Pavlovic's future sale, just as in the case of Nikola Milenkovic. So, Partizan and Lazio have already "shaken hands" on the deal, and it remains only for the footballer to today specify the details of his personal conditions, that is, the salary he expects from Lazio.

Telegraf has spoken with the young defender's agent, former Partizan player Zvonimir Vukic, who confirmed that his client will join the Italian club.

"Lazio's official offer  arrived yesterday and Partizan accepted it, and Stahinja Pavlovic, whom I represent, has nothing against becoming a member of the Roman club. We had a few more options, even more lucrative ones, but we agreed together, after looking at all the aspects, to accept this one," Zvonimir Vukic was clear.

"It is a top-class club that can provide everything that is necessary for the development of a young footballer and therefore there were no doubts. Italy is a country that Strahinja loves, as well as Serie A (Italy's top-tier football competition), and we are sure this will a true success. Also, it's very important for both Partizan and him personally that Lazio met them half way and left him on loan for the rest of the season. Because, let's not forget that he has been on the first team for only a few months and needs more experience in the competition - and it's very important to help the club to get into the group stage of the Europa League, this was also taken into consideration," Zvonimir Vukic points out.

Photo: Nikola Tomic

SEVERAL OTHER BIG CLUBS WERE IN THE MIX

Pavlovic has been associated with several European clubs over the past few months. Watford (8,000,000 million offer) and Liverpool (6,000,000 million) contacted Partizan, as well as Manchester City, whose scouts watched the player several times. Still, a barrier called the work permit eliminated England from the business.

There was also speculation about Juventus as Pavlovic's destination, however, that offer never officially arrived at Partizan's headquarters in Belgrade's Humska Steet - as the Turin club had already bought Demiral (from Sassuolo), Romero (Genoa) and De Ligt (Ajax) - so, along with Chiellini and Bonucci there was simply no room for another defender. On the other hand, another Italian club, Fiorentina, sent their head scout to Turkey (where Partizan was training) as early as last winter, but the Florence-based club was not competitive this time.

The footballer's agent Vukic also turned down two big clubs from Germany, and then received an invitation from the president of Portugal's Benfica, who would have easily agreed on terms with Partizan - but the offer to Strahinja Pavlovic himself included lower wages and a somewhat unclear status, to compensate for the investment. It was quickly turned down.

Lazio owner Claudio Lotito waited for this "crowd" to clear - and made his offer to Partizan, giving Pavlovic excellent conditions for further development, starting with a loan to the club he grew up in, and then satisfying wages, and life in the Eternal City.

(Z. Ivkovic)