Italian giants looking to sign another Manchester United star after Sanchez

Manchester United are vying for a mass exodus this summer.

Manchester United Under-23 starlet Tahith Chong’s agent being photographed outside Inter Milan’s headquarters in January earlier this year was the first and the last time Manchester United devotees sensed the fear at the existence of the Italian club.

Though, that anxiety did not last too long within the fanbase as the prodigy soon announced the news of him signing a contract renewal with the Mancunian club — Chong’s renewal is expected to keep him at the club until June 2022.

Over the last twelve months, Manchester United have totally transformed themselves into a feeder club for Inter Milan, with two superstars, who once were the Reds, having changed their parties inside the mentioned time period.

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At first, Alexis Sanchez joined them a one-year loan last summer, with Manchester United agreeing to pay half of Sanchez’s humongous £390,000 weekly wages. Then, a similar story developed in January 2020 when the then Manchester United captain Ashley Young, after a widely-known revolt against playing any more game for United, finally decided to move on, joining Inter to start a new chapter in his illustrious career.

Having enjoyed his life and gameplay under the supervision of Antonio Conte, Alexis Sanchez also agreed on pursuing his career in the Italian conurbation, penning a permanent deal last week for the Serie A 2019-20 runner-ups.

At Manchester United, both Ashley Young and Alexis Sanchez were viewed as the flops of the decade by the fans and the respective pundits, with their performances out of eleven players confronting the utmost scrutiny after a bad result while donning the red shirt of United.

Like Sanchez and Young, there is a player — a Sir Alex Ferguson signing — in Chris Smalling who chose to make a move to Italy on a season-long loan deal in order to renovate his half-drowned career. Having dropped down the pecking order behind Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof under the management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Smalling might have made the right decision at that moment.

In the 2019-20 Serie A campaign, Smalling made 30 appearances for AS Roma, garnering three goals and two assists, and having showcased spectacular form in the backline. He provided AS Roma defence the stability it needed in the absence of Kostas Manolas, who had joined Napoli from Roma in the same summer transfer window on a deal cost €36 million. Furthermore, the 30-year-old English international helped La Lupa earn a spot in the Europa League next campaign.

And despite Roma remaining keen on making Smalling’s move permanent, the centre-half ended up his tenure at Italy’s capital heading back to the red side of Manchester last week.

Various reports suggested that Manchester United had wanted Roma to sign Smalling on a permanent basis this summer while Roma were adamant on the fact that they would complete another one-year loan move with an obligation to buy him permanently next summer.

As reported by some other outlets, there was a difference in valuation recorded around €2 million between the clubs, and hence the deal fell apart, with United desperately looking to conclude the deal before the start of the Europa League knockout stages then. However, Manchester United are now considering the possible ideas regarding Smalling’s future.

Inter Milan are now looking at the possibility of signing Chris Smalling #mulive [gds]
— utdreport (@utdreport) August 9, 2020

And according to a report from La Gazzetta dello Sport, Inter Milan are currently looking to sign Chris Smalling from Manchester United this summer. United could ask for €20 million after what was an eye-catching campaign on the Italian soil for the Englishman.

Inter Milan, like United, are playing for the Europa League — the last chance to secure a trophy for both teams from the ongoing season. And for that very reason, it has become very unlikely that a deal between Inter and Man United would be struck until the end of the season.

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Do you think Inter Milan would pay €20 million for Smalling?