Fiorentina fume over Milan's 'late and inopportune' Ljajic bid

Fiorentina board member Paolo Panerai tweeted on Saturday that Milan had "broken the rules" by making an approach to the 22-year-old who has one year of his contract to run.

Fiorentina's Ljajic celebrates after scoring next to SS Lazio's coach Vladimir Petkovic during their Italian Serie A soccer match in Rome

The club then issued a statement on Sunday saying that Panerai's comments were his own opinion but added that Milan's approach to Ljajic, who scored 11 Serie A goals last season, was "unacceptable, certainly late and definitely inopportune."

Ljajic joined Fiorentina in 2010. He has not played for his country since coach Sinisa Mihajlovic dropped him for failing to sing the national anthem before a friendly against Spain in May last year.

Fiorentina finished fourth last season, missing out on a Champion League qualifying place to Milan on the last day of the season.

(Reporting by Brian Homewood; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)