Ivan Perisic flies to China for pre-season tour after Man Utd and Inter Milan fail to agree fee
Ivan Perisic flew to China with his Inter Milan team-mates on Tuesday afternoon after Manchester United failed to reach an agreement with the Italian club over a fee for the unsettled Croatia winger.
Inter have been holding out for £49 million for Perisic but after weeks of negotiation United have been unwilling to go that high.
Perisic was hoping a deal would be push through in time to avoid having to fly with Inter from Milan to Nanjing on Tuesday for the start of the club's pre season tour of China and instead join United in the US.
But sources at the Serie A club indicated that United were still some way off their valuation, which left Perisic with no choice but to join Inter's tour party.
Whether United and Inter are able to reach an agreement for the 28-year-old remains to be seen. Today was only ever an artificial deadline and the transfer window does not close until Aug 31 but United manager Jose Mourinho wants his remaining signings wrapped up as soon as possible.
The news came only hours after Mourinho lost Juan Mata to injury for a week after the Spain midfielder suffered a twisted ankle in the 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake in Sandy, Utah and the United manager was left seething about a red card for Antonio Valencia.
Mata is likely to miss the derby against Manchester City in Houston in the early hours on Friday and probably the game against Real Madrid in Santa Clara two days later following a heavy challenge by Salt Lake midfielder, Sebastian Saucedo, but Mourinho was more angry about Valencia’s second half dismissal.
A dressing room source said Mourinho was fuming after referee Allen Chapman had warned him that unless he substituted Valencia he would show the Ecuador right-back a red card only for the manager to refuse because he did not believe the foul on Saucedo warranted a sending off.
There was at least better news where Romelu Lukaku was concerned, with the Belgium striker claiming his first goal for United on his second appearance since his £75 million move from Everton with the winner against Salt Lake. Mourinho sold Lukaku to Everton as Chelsea manager in 2014 but the striker is delighted to be working with the Portuguese again.
When Lukaku walked to the touchline for a drink during a break in play in the first half, Mourinho told him not to get hung up on scoring because he was “loving everything he did”.
