Man Utd Transfer News
Man Utd Handed Boost In Pursuit Of Unsettled £40m Midfielder
Man Utd have been handed a boost in their pursuit of Joao Mario after Inter Milan admitted the midfielder is unsettled due to a lack of playing time
The January transfer window is just around the corner meaning clubs are working hard on potential deals so we’ll bring you all the latest gossip from around the globe. Today, more on the future of Joao Mario…
Manchester United have been handed a boost in their pursuit of Joao Mario after Inter Milan admitted the midfielder is unsettled due to a lack of playing time, according to the Mirror.
Mario spent the majority of his career at Sporting Lisbon having progressed through their youth system before joining Inter Milan in a £40m deal back in the summer of 2016.
However, the 24-year-old’s time in Italy hasn’t gone according to plan as the midfielder has struggled to establish himself under new boss Luciano Spalletti this season.
Mario has started just 4 Serie A games so far this campaign with the likes of Marcelo Brozovic, Matias Vecino and Borja Valero ahead of him in the pecking order and it’s led to speculation the midfielder is looking for a fresh start.
The Mirror claim Man Utd are keen to sign Mario in January after Jose Mourinho identified the Portuguese international as a potential replacement for Henrikh Mkhitaryan – who’s fallen out-of-favour at Old Trafford.
United have now been boosted in their pursuit as Inter sporting director Walter Sabatini has admitted Mario is unhappy at the club due to a lack of playing time, however, he insists the Italian giants would prefer to keep him at the San Siro.
Sabatini is quoted as saying by the Mirror:
“Joao has some issues with the lack of playing time,”
“We don’t want to lose him. He is our player and we want to keep him.”
We’ll have to wait and see how things develop but if Mario continues to be frozen out of Spalletti’s plans then I wouldn’t be surprised to see him push for a move this winter as he’ll need to be playing regularly ahead of the World Cup.
Inter may want him to stay but there is no point forcing an unhappy player to remain at the club, especially if he’s not in the managers plans, so I think a move in January is a real possibility.
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Mario would be a solid signing for United if they could get a deal agreed but Inter wouldn’t probably want to recoup the majority of the £40m they paid Sporting for his signature 18 months ago.
