Inter Lead Chelsea And United For Barca Playmaker After Holding Talks Over £35m Deal

Inter Lead Chelsea And United For Barca Playmaker After Holding Talks Over £35m Deal

Inter Milan officials Beppe Marotta and Piero Ausilio have held talks with Barcelona over signing Ivan Rakitic, according to the Gazzetta Dello Sport.

The Italian newspaper reports that the Nerazzurri have offered €35m for the 30-year-old but Barca are only willing to do a deal for €45m.

Inter are said to be hopeful about agreeing a compromise with a €40m (£35m) transfer fee being lined up.

Chelsea and Manchester United have both been previously linked with Rakitic but the Serie A club are looking to steal a march on their rivals by putting a deal in place before the summer.

Inter are apparently already preparing a three-year contract proposal for the Croatian international, who has two and a half years left to run on his current deal at the Camp Nou.

Rakitic has already spoken of his desire to stay at Barcelona, but the Catalan club are said to be weighing up offloading the player at the end of the season despite the midfielder still being a first-team regular.

David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.