Lazio defender Jaap Stam appears certain to move to AC Milan next season after reaching an agreement to join the reigning European champions, according to his agent.
Lazio's dire financial problems mean they are keen to cash in on the Dutch international before his contract expires in the summer of 2005, and agent Henk van Ginkel claimed that Milan have won the race to secure his services, seeing off competition from Serie A rivals Inter Milan and Juventus.
Van Ginkel said: "Jaap has already arrived at an agreement to move to Milan - everything is sorted. Inter and Juventus were also interested in him, but Jaap only wanted to join Milan.
"Now all that remains is for Milan and Lazio to agree a fee, and the difference between the offer and the request is minimal," Van Ginkel told Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport.
Van Ginkel also revealed that Lazio were unwilling to negotiate with Inter over the transfer of the former Manchester United player.
Relations between the clubs became particularly strained when cash-strapped Lazio were effectively forced to sell midfielder Dejan Stankovic to the Nerazzurri in January in order to avoid losing him for nothing in the summer.
And Van Ginkel claimed that Stam would see out his current deal at Lazio if the deal with Milan were to fall through.
"Lazio didn't even want to deal with Inter," he continued. "And if it doesn't work out with Milan, Stam will stay with Lazio until next summer before returning to play in Holland.
"He has four children and he wants to concentrate on the European Championships; it doesn't make sense for negotiations to go on for months and months."
Lazio president Ugo Longo had earlier admitted that Stam was for sale after months of denial and evasion. The Biancocelesti received a comparatively small fee for Stankovic when the Serbo-Montenegrin moved north to Inter, and Longo admitted that he was afraid of history repeating itself.
"We don't want to have to go through the Stankovic experience again," he said.
"We didn't manage to get him to renew his contract in the past, and we paid dearly for that when he was sold to Inter.
"Jaap is a great player, but his contract runs out in 2005 and he has no intention of signing a new deal with us."