‘Official & confirmed’ - 69-goal Newcastle United transfer target completes £34m summer transfer to Saudi club

The 28-year-old midfielder has joined Al Hilal from Serie A side Lazio in a deal worth £34million. Newcastle are understood to have been long-term admirers of the Serbian, who has been linked with a move to Tyneside over the past couple of seasons.

A transfer has never materialised with Lazio previously reported to be asking for around £87million. But with the player into the final year of his contract, Lazio lowered their valuation considerably, allowing Al Hilal to swoop in.

Milinkovic-Savic joins Ruben Neves and Kalidou Koulibaly at Al Hilal after the pair completed moves from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea respectively last month.

The midfielder was linked with a Premier League move for a while having established himself as a prominent player in Serie A. He has scored 69 goals in 341 games for Lazio over eight seasons, including 11 in 47 matches last season

Al Hilal’s deal with the player comes amid a key period for football in Saudi Arabia. Al Hilal are one of the four clubs taken over by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who own an 80% stake in Newcastle.

The other three clubs are Al Ittihad, Al Ahli and Al Nassr. So far this summer, a number of high profile players have followed Cristiano Ronaldo over to the Gulf state, including Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy, Roberto Firmino as well as Neves and Koulibaly.