Udinese midfielder Lazar Samardzic will be coming to the San Siro for the first time to face Inter Milan this evening after a dramatic summer.

Today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, highlight the odd situation that the 21-year-old finds himself in.

Samardzic has already visited San Siro once this season.

That was to face AC Milan in a Serie A meeting.

But the Serbian former RB Leipzig and Hertha Berlin midfielder had at one point looked as though he’d be playing at the stadium a lot more regularly.

Samardzic had looked to be on the verge of joining Inter. He was set to make the move, with Giovanni Fabbian going in the other direction.

Samardzic had even undergone his medicals on the transfer.

But that’s when the soap opera started.

Lazar Samardzic Faces Inter After Summer Soap Opera

At the eleventh hour, Samardzic’s representatives, led by his father, made a visit to the Inter headquarters.

The purpose of their meeting with the Nerazzurri was to work out new details on Samardzic’s transfer.

It is not precisely clear what those demands were. There were reports of the midfielder’s father asking for an additional agent condition, higher wages for the player, or even a sell-on fee.

And it is also unclear what exactly the role of prominent agent Rafaela Pimenta was in the debacle.

Pimenta had undoubtedly been the agent who had mediated most of the negotiations between Inter and Samardzic.

The Nerazzurri felt that they had fully agreed terms with the 21-year-old via Pimenta’s mediation.

But that’s not how the player’s father saw it. He made additional demands, and Inter completely closed the door to these new requests.

It seemed to be as much a matter of principle – Inter felt that there was already an agreement set in stone and would not budge on eleventh-hour demands – as any financial issues.

In any event, this impasse was not something that the parties could resolve.

Inter walked away from the deal. And so Samardzic stayed at Udinese for the season.

There, the Serbian intentional has continued to play an important role as a creative midfielder.

And he could have extra motivation to try and show what he’s capable of against Inter this evening.