Earlier on Friday, we covered the latest from the Chris Smalling situation in Italy, with Inter keen on the Manchester United defender.
Having returned to England, the centre-back is now waiting to see what his future holds after enjoying his stay in Italy and keen to return there if he can.
Whether he does so with AS Roma or Inter remains to be seen, but it’s the latter of the two who could be making the first move in the near future, according to Calciomercato.
Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday earlier stated the club, who have a good relationship with Ed Woodard and co. following the deals for Romelu Lukaku, Ashley Young and Alexis Sánchez, felt they could try and ‘shave off’ a bit of money off the €20m asking price for Smalling, and they have a number in mind.
Calciomercato explain that with Milan Škriniar on the market, they would need to replace their man with ‘an experienced element’.
Smalling is said to fit the bill, even if Antonio Conte ‘initially turned his nose up a bit’, but the former Chelsea manager now seems ‘less critical of the English defender’ after he showed he was at ease in a three man defence.
Inter believe they have the ‘right cards’ to convince him to join them, and believe they can close a deal with Manchester United ‘with an outlay of €15m’.
Furthermore, joining the Milan club would allow Smalling to reunite with his ‘great friend’ Romelu Lukaku.
What’s not to like?
