While the transfers of Romelu Lukaku and Paulo Dybala are no longer intrinsically linked due to Manchester United pulling out of the race for the Argentine, one could still very much depends on the other.
Since Juventus cannot use the 25-year-old as an exchangeable asset for the Belgian, they have to find the money from somewhere, and that would hopefully involve Tottenham buying the former Palermo starlet.
But, Inter aren’t done yet, and Gazzetta dello Sport claim the offer rejected by Manchester United from Antonio Conte’s side was of €70m + €4m in bonus.
This led to the player’s extended exile in Belgium, where he is currently training with his former club Anderlecht, facing a large fine from the Premier League club for not reporting back to training.
However, it’s stated Inter are refuting the idea of a new official offer being made, but ‘the work of Federico Pastorello is certainly not being done blindly in these very delicate hours’, meaning he’s clearly has something to work with behind the scenes, even if it isn’t anything formal.
That’s Inter’s side of things.
Over at Juventus, Fabio Paratici is reportedly in London, trying to get deals sorted for the likes of Mario Mandzukic, Blaise Matuidi, Sami Khedira and potentially Daniele Rugani.
The latter has attracted interest from Arsenal, who desperately need a centre-back, especially after Laurent Koscielny completed his move to Bordeaux on Tuesday.
That money, should he get it, could then be used to get the Belgium international.
Corriere dello Sport, down their end, refute the idea of the €70m + €4m offer, claiming Inter are ‘ready to offer €64m + €5m’ for Lukaku, and Pastorello is expected in Manchester to talk with the United board and present said bid.
Seeing as United’s stance remains £75m or nothing, it all seems a bit futile, doesn’t it?
Juventus are reportedly out of the race for the Belgian, and it could be that they turn their attention to Mauro Icardi instead.
A few contradicting claims here, but it seems the Serie A champions are slowly backing away from Lukaku, and it could end up all coming down to Inter in the final hours of the Premier League transfer window.
