Manchester United have received a severe blow in their chances of signing Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic, who was said to be one of Jose Mourinho's top priority targets. The Croatian is set to stay at his present club, and Inter are preparing a new deal for the player.
Perisic might be on international duty for Croatia and it was the national team coach Ante Cacic, which put an end to news reports linking him to United. Croatia gaffer spilled the beans, saying, Perisic is happy at Inter.
"I spoke to Ivan Perisic, he is happy in Inter. The coach [Luciano Spalletti] appreciates him, they are preparing new contract for him," Goal quoted Cacic as saying.
It is a massive setback for Mourinho, as the Red Devils had been trying to land Perisic for a long time, and at one point of time, a deal was also reportedly agreed too. However, as things stood, Manchester United were not ready to meet Inter's asking price of around £48million, which seems to have gone against the deal.
With the transfer window set to close on Thursday, an interesting couple of days lie ahead.
Manchester United's manager Mourinho has always stressed on the point of signing four players. He has completed three of them, including Romelu Lukaku, Victor Lindelof and Nemanja Matic.
The fourth signing seems to be deluding them. However, it was only reported on August 28 that United have made a massive offer for Real Madrid's Gareth Bale. With Perisic happy in Serie A, Manchester United could even go all out to sign the winger.
Bale could be an ideal signing for United for a number of reasons. The Real Madrid man has good experience of playing in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur before heading to Spain. His pace in the wings mixed with goal-scoring ability, mix that with quality players such as Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba, Manchester United could be dangerous.
Though the window shuts down in the next two days or so, United will keep their fingers crossed for a deal. They might have been given hope when Bale was booed off by his fans in Real's last match against Valencia, which ended in 2-2.
Besides this, the rise of Real's Marco Asensio could also mean that the Spanish player could be picked ahead of Bale. The lure of returning for Bale to England could also reignite Mourinho completing a mega fourth signing.
