Manchester United transfer chief Ed Woodward could delay his flight to the United States to put the finishing touches to the £44million signing of Ivan Perisic from Inter Milan, according to the Times.
The newspaper claim that United are making progress in their attempts to finalise the capture of the Croatia winger and are hopeful the deal can be done in the next 48 hours.
The Times report that Perisic, 28, does not want to board a flight with the rest of the Inter squad that leaves for Nanjing, in China, this afternoon (Tuesday) for the second leg of their pre-season tour.
He is keen to seal a transfer to United instead, and it is a stance shared by the hierarchy of the Premier League giants.
They are close to reaching an agreement over the fee for Perisic after tabling a new bid of £44million and Inter’s demand for £48.5million is said to have “softened over the weekend” after the player made it clear he wants to move.
United executive vice-chairman Woodward, who has been in negotiations with Inter over a deal for the Croatia forward for much of the summer, had been due to fly to the United States today (Tuesday) to join the club’s pre-season tour.
But the Times report that the club’s transfer and contract negotiator may delay his departure if he needs more time to complete the deal.
Should the transfer go through, Perisic would join United’s pre-season tour to America.
It would also take the Manchester club’s spending on new players this summer beyond £160million following the arrivals of Romelu Lukaku for £90million and Victor Lindelof for £30million.