Manchester United dealt yet another blow as Inter Milan manager plays down Perisic transfer rumours

Following reports claiming that United were close to signing Ivan Perisic after agreeing on a fee, Inter Milan boss Luciano Spalletti has dealt another blow to the Red Devils after playing down those transfer rumours.

The Sun reported last week that Manchester United had agreed on a £40 million fee with Inter Milan for the transfer of Ivan Perisic, with the player thought to have left the training camp to finalize a deal with the Manchester club.

Inter's technical director Walter Sabatini also hinted at Perisic's departure after saying: "Inter wouldn’t like to sell Perisic but at the same time the club doesn’t want to have an unhappy player." 

However, this long-running transfer saga took another turn yesterday after Inter Milan manager Luciano Spalletti played down the Croatian's exit rumours. 

Speaking at the International Champions Cup press conference in Nanjing, he was quoted by Italian news outlet Football Italia as saying: "Perisic? From my point of view, it’s very simple: Ivan’s an important player for me, after that you have to ask him how he’s dealing with the interest from Manchester United." 

When asked about the player's state of mind, Spalletti responded by saying: “I’d say it’s positive, meaning the player is strong, but at the same time, there are directors with whom he signed a contract that he must respect. 

"After that, if Inter were to accept a certain kind of offer, we’d get an equally important player to replace him. Still, for now, things are going well."