Manchester United appear closer than ever to landing Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic but may have to send Anthony Martial in the opposite direction.

The Nerazzurri are finalising a deal for Lazio's Keita Balde worth around £17.7m (€20m), report Milan-based Gazzetta dello Sport.

Tuesday's front page also suggests Martial could be included in the deal to send the Croatian international to Old Trafford.

Martial played a half in Monday night's 2-1 friendly victory over Real Salt Lake, but has found it difficult to earn a regular run of games under Jose Mourinho.

Anthony Martial could swap clubs with Ivan Perisic (
Image:
REUTERS)
Martial in action vs Real Salt Lake (
Image:
Matthew Peters)
Man United are keen to sign Perisic before Inter fly to China for pre-season training (
Image:
AFP)
(
Image:
Inter via Getty Images)

Mourinho would not be moved on whether a move for Perisic was edging closer after the friendly at the Rio Tinto Stadium.

The Portuguese said: "No idea. No idea my friend. No idea."

Inter are set to travel to China today for the beginning of their pre-season tour, though it remains unclear whether Perisic will join the squad.

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Jose Mourinho has already parted with £75million to sign Romelu Lukaku (
Image:
Reuters)

Manager Luciano Spalletti recently suggested a deal could be on by refusing to dampen reports.

"Perisic? You [journalists] know everything," Spalletti told Sportitalia. "It's all out in the open."

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