Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is reportedly willing to make a January move for the Inter Milan star, whom Jose Mourinho wanted during his time at Manchester United.
It has been two years since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became the manager of Manchester United. And over this period of time, he has got success in building up an intense rivalry between him and the man he took over from, Jose Mourinho.
Both men have had met three times in the Premier League, with both coming out on top once each. The overall aggregate could have been different had one of them humbled the other in the first game coming back from the lockdown last season. That fixture ended up with a 1-1 scoreline.
On 20 November 2019, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy decided to replace Mauricio Pochettino with Jose Mourinho—the man who had led Manchester United to an EFL Cup, a Europa League title and a Community Shield during his two-and-a-half year spell at the club.
In what turned out to be the Portuguese’s last summer transfer window for the Red Devils, he was understood to have made Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic their transfer priority.
But Ed Woodward’s hesitancy to pay Inter’s high asking price for the Croatian saw Mourinho ending up empty-handed that summer. Now, according to a report from Italian publication Gazzetta Dello Sport (via The Sun), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will try to do what his predecessor could not and bring Perisic to Old Trafford in the upcoming January transfer window.
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Perisic spent his last season on loan to Bayern Munich, where the Croatia international helped Hansi Flick’s men secure an illustrious Treble, playing a vital part for the German side throughout the 2019-20 season.
However, Perisic‘s return to his parent side has seen him score only 2 goals and provide 3 assists from 17 appearances in all competitions this season. As per the abovementioned report, Inter boss Antonio Conte is not satisfied with the 31-year-old’s output and will be looking to offload him in January.
The club chief Guiseppe Marotta is apparently looking forward to pocketing a transfer fee in the region of £13.5 million from the sale. Solskjaer might see this as an opportunity to add a proven veteran for a bargain.
However, his age and recent injury record could be something that the club should take a keen look at before weighing up a potential swoop.