According to Gianluca di Marzio, Bayern Munich have started negotiations with Inter Milan over the permanent signing of Croatian winger Ivan Perisic.
The 31-year-old was recruited by Bayern on a season-long loan last summer and he had a productive campaign with eight goals and 10 assists from 35 appearances across all competitions.
The European champions had the option to trigger the €20m buy clause available to them back in April, but they decided against doing so amid the unexpected break due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same point of time, Perisic was recovering from a freak ankle injury suffered in training in February and the club’s hierarchy probably wanted to assess his performances on his comeback before making a decision.
Perisic was largely a substitute when the Bundesliga season restarted after a two-month COVID-19 break, but he was involved heavily in the restart of the Champions League campaign.
The Croatian started all three of Bayern’s European games in the lead-up to the final and he grabbed an assist against both Chelsea and Barcelona. Hence, it is not a surprise that the board are now eager to sign him on a permanent deal.
The club already have three exciting wingers in Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman, but manager Hansi Flick is understood to prefer another a fourth winger in the ranks with the need for rotation across all competitions.
So far, Bayern have been unsuccessful in their bid to land Perisic with the Nerazzurri turning down their initial offer of €12m. The offer has been deemed too low by the San Siro giants, but negotiations are continuing between the sides.
Meanwhile, Bayern have officially confirmed that Philippe Coutinho has returned to parent club Barcelona after his season-long loan. The club decided against triggering the €120m buy clause earlier this year, and they are not expected to re-sign him.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
