Manchester United have agreed a €52m deal to sign Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic, according to a report in Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
United’s bid to sign Croatian star Perisic was initially revealed last weekend, but subsequent reports suggested they were struggling to reach agreement with Inter over a fee for the 28-year-old.
Now it appears negotiations are close to reaching a breakthrough, with Gazzetta Dello Sport claiming Inter have agreed a fee and all that is left to complete the deal will be finalising personal terms with Perisic.
That is unlikely to be a stumbling block in United’s efforts to sign a player who is believed to have met personally with United manager Jose Mourinho as he travelled to Zagreb back in March.
Mourinho’s visit to Croatia during the last international break sparked suggestions that he was keen to sign Perisic and while Paris Saint-Germain have also been linked with the experienced performer, it appears he is keen to seal a move to Old Trafford.
Perisic famously fell out with Jurgen Klopp when he worked under the German at Borussia Dortmund, with the tactician now in charge at Liverpool accusing the Croatian of being ‘childish’ as he off-loaded him to Wolfsburg.
Yet Mourinho will be confident that he can get the best out of a player who fits into his remit of targeting players with a proven track record at the highest level of European football.
The potential breakthrough in the Perisic deal comes as United re-assess their transfer options after ‘cooling’ their interest in Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann.
While the United PR team did their best to suggest they had decided to walk away from the Griezmann transfer, the reality was that the French striker decided he would stay at Atletico for another season after their transfer embargo was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday.
Now there are reports that United will turn their attentions to Everton striker Romelu Lukaku, even though Independent.ie understands that the Belgian forward who scored 25 Premier League goals last season has ‘some reservations’ about working under Mourinho once again after a somewhat fractious working relationship during their time together at Chelsea.
The potential arrival of Perisic has been greeted with less than resounding approval from United fans on social media channels, with many suggesting Mourinho could find better quality options than the attacking star who scored 11 Serie A goals for Inter Milan last season.
Yet it appears Mourinho is keen to push through the transfer that is bound to increase speculation over the future of French attacking star Anthony Martial at United.
