Manchester United reportedly agree €46 million fee for superstar midfielder

What’s the story?

The Sun are reporting that Manchester United’s long drawn-out chase for the signature of Ivan Perisic from Inter Milan is finally over and that the Nerazzuri have accepted a €46 million, or GBP 40 million pound bid for the Croatian wide-midfielder-cum-forward. We had earlier reported that Perisic and United had already agreed personal terms and that the only stumbling block was the fees – but it appears now that it’s been sorted between the two managements after Inter backed down from their €56 million asking price.

Perisic is now set to be United’s third signing of this transfer window after the promising Victor Lindelof from Benfica and the belligerent Romelu Lukaku from Everton.

In case you didn’t know

United have been chasing Perisic for what feels like an eternity, but do you know his history? The 28-year started off his youth career with hometown club Hajduk Split before moving to Sochaux in France. Whilst there he was loaned to Belgian side Roeselare before making his first big move – to Belgian giants Club Brugge for whom 72 appearances resulted in 35 goals. This earned him a move to Borussia Dortmund where he scored 12 in 64 (over two seasons) before he really made his name over a four-year tenure with Wolfsburg for whom he scored 21 goals in 88 matches.

He then left for Inter for a reported €16 million fee and has shone there operating mainly on the left side of midfield, scoring 20 goals in 79 games. He is, of course, a regular starter for Croatia where he has a record of 16 goals in 57 matches.

The heart of the matter

As I’d mentioned before, Ivan Perisic has been “teasing” United fans all across social media – “liking” posts such as the Romelu Lukaku announcement and a number of Paul Pogba Instagram posts (How relevant social media “likes” are to the process of a footballer’s transfer is a discussion that we must all have – but maybe another day, eh?) – while he may not be the blockbuster, world-record fee kind of signing that a few United fans dream of seeing, he would be perfect for the club under Mourinho’s management.

Video

Most of you would have already seen every Perisic-Inter compilation out there, so how’s this for size?

The man can play, let me tell you

Author’s Take

A winger by trade, Perisic also has the discipline and positional awareness to play wing-back, which if United’s first exhibition game against LA Galaxy was any indication might be the way forward for the club this season. In a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3, the Croat and Antonio Valencia on the other side would add the perfect blend of stability & solidity vs attacking dynamism.

In any case, he would still be superbly suited for United’s current stock formations of 4-2-3-1, or 4-3-3... all in all, if this does go through, it would be a great signing.