Inter Milan need Mauro Icardi to do one before signing Romelu Lukaku

Inter Milan are attempting to raise funds to sign Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku, according to a report in the Guardian.

The Italian side want to sign Lukaku for manager Antonio Conte, who missed out on the Belgian striker when he was in charge of Chelsea. Instead, he signed Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, who had been expected join United that summer. The signings worked out for neither club, but Conte still wants to manage Lukaku and will attempt to do so at his new club.

United are holding out for the £75 million that they paid Everton for Lukaku, but Inter are currently unable to match the asking price. Ed Woodward is understandably not keen to lose money on a player whose value will have stayed steady in a rising market for transfers. There have been other reports that suggest that Lukaku has already agreed personal terms of £180,000 a week for the move.

The problem is that Inter do not have the cash to spare, so are waiting until they can offload their current star striker Mauro Icardi. He was stripped of the club captaincy last season and is widely expected to leave the club this summer, with Inter expected to demand around £60 million, which would finance the best part of the Lukaku deal.

Juventus are the favourites to sign Icardi, but they may first have to wait to sell Pablo Dybala to balance their own books. He is expected to sign for Atletico Madrid, but only when and if Antoine Griezmann finally moves to Barcelona, in what is the dullest transfer saga of all time.

United could of course suggest a swap deal for Lukaku and Icardi, but whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer really fancies bringing Icardi into a squad not known for its lack of wallies, is in doubt.