Man Utd face competition for striker as agents meet new Italian suitors

Fernando Llorente TEAMtalk

The representatives of Fernando Llorente have been spotted at Inter Milan’s headquarters today, fuelling speculation that the Serie A side could join Manchester United in the race for the former Tottenham Hotspur striker.

Llorente is a free agent after his contract with Tottenham expired, bringing an end to a three-year stay in England (the first of which was with Swansea). Having chipped in with 28 goals across those three years, interest in the Spaniard is high.

We exclusively revealed that the 34-year-old is waiting for Man Utd to present him with an offer – a scenario which could be accelerated by the departure of Alexis Sanchez to Inter, which would leave United with just Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial as senior strikers – but now a new suitor has emerged.

There was already interest in the former Juventus star from Serie A, with Napoli considering him as a cheaper alternative if their ambitious pursuit of Mauro Icardi from Inter failed, but now Calciomercato claim that Icardi’s current club could actually launch a bid themselves.

Such a move would come as something of a surprise, with Inter already having Romelu Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez and Icardi as striking options – even if the latter has been frozen out – while Man Utd flop Sanchez will join them shortly after passing his medical on Wednesday.

Football Italia suggest that Inter’s potential signing of Llorente could in fact clear the path for Icardi to move to Napoli, or it could be a tactic to weaken their rivals altogether by removing two of their top targets from the market.

A move to Inter would reunite Llorente with Antonio Conte, the coach under whom he enjoyed one of his most successful seasons, scoring 18 goals for Juventus in the 2013-14 campaign.

However, United can still not be ruled out as a potential destination.

 

Get the latest personalised Red Devils products on our new TEAMtalk Man Utd shop!