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Manchester United's £50m move for Ivan Perisic is 'not happening' according to Inter Milan sporting director

The Old Trafford club had hoped the deal would be completed within the next week having agreed personal terms

Jack Austin
Thursday 13 July 2017 12:40 BST
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Manchester United will be left disappointed in their attempts to sign winger Ivan Perisic according to Internazionale’s sporting director, who insisted the move is “not happening”.

The Independent revealed this week that United were still a few million short of Inter’s £50m asking price for the 28-year-old, despite personal terms having already agreed between player and club.

Old Trafford sources felt a deal would be struck eventually though, for somewhere between £45m and £50m, and that it would be done over the coming days so Perisic could fly out to the United States to join his new teammates on their preseason tour.

Perisic further fuelled rumours the move was in its final stages after liking Paul Pogba’s recent Instagram video of the Frenchman welcoming Romelu Lukaku to Old Trafford.

However, Inter’s sporting director Piero Ausilo was adamant that the move would not happen and dismissed the notion that the Italian giants would be without the Croatia international for their own preseason training.

“It's not happening,” he asked by Sky Sport Italia about the possibility of Perisic joining United.

“Perisic is training with us and so far we have not taken into consideration anything that at Manchester United have offered us.”

This comes days after new Inter boss Luciano Spalletti, who took over at the San Siro last month, told La Gazzetta dello Sport that the player was yet to express a desire to leave the club for United.

“There'll be fewer chances for those players who are distracted, and better opportunities for those who want to stick with Inter,” Spalletti said.

“Perisic is an important player for us, we're counting on him. Let's see what he has to say, I don't expect him to say that he wants to leave, that would be bad. We'll see what his intentions are.

“But it's just you [the media] who are telling me he wants to go, he's not said anything to me. But we are Inter and so we can decide to do whatever we want.”

United kick off their preseason tour against LA Galaxy on Sunday, before facing Real Salt Lake City, Manchester City and then finishing off against Real Madrid, their Uefa Super Cup opponents.

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