Manchester United Move For Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni

Manchester United have been linked to a host of left-footed centre-backs over the past few months - and 23-year old Alessandro Bastoni of Inter Milan seems to be another addition to the ever growing list.

The defender appeared 44 times for the Italian giants last season. He originally joined the team in 2017 from Atalanta, but has also had two loan spells since then.

Originally returning to Atalanta, Bastoni then moved to Parma for a season-long loan in 2018/19. Since his return to his parent club the following campaign, he has amassed 118 appearances.

United are known to be on the look for a central defender in the summer window, as per multiple reports.

Raphael Varane's availability and Harry Maguire's form could both be reasons behind the intentions to strengthen the middle of the defence. The likely departures of Axel Tuanzebe and Eric Bailly could be another explanation.

Both Eric Bailly and Axel Tuanzebe are set to leave Manchester United this summer - decision made. 🔴 #MUFC

Diogo Dalot’s expected to stay at Manchester United this summer, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has chances to leave waiting for new proposals - as reported yesterday ⤵️⌛️ https://t.co/jR5OIDxbay

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 3, 2022

According to a report by the reliable Gianluca Di Marzio, United have moved for Bastoni over the last few hours.

The report also talks about interest in the player from Antonio Conte's Tottenham, and how they have initiated contacts with both Inter and Bastoni over a possible move already - even if they haven't formulated a precise offer yet. 

There have been a number of different reports on the exact price which would have to be paid by a club to secure Bastoni's services, but the consensus seems to be a price point ranging between £50-55 million.

Charlie Eccleshare and Jack Pitt-Brooke of The Athletic reported that Inter would demand a fee of around £50m for the player, whereas Gary Jacob of Times Sport mentioned that he was valued at £54m by his club.

Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport also talked about Inter requiring an offer of at least €60m (around £51m) to consider the player's sale. 

Putting that aside, it doesn't look like it'll be an easy task to convince the player to leave Inter for the Premier League, especially for a United team who'll be missing out on the Champions League next season.

Despite the connections which exist between the player and Antonio Conte from their time together at Inter and Tottenham being in the Champions League, the club have been struggling to persuade Bastoni to leave Inter - according to Times Sport.

That report also goes on to mention how Bastoni was indicating that the prospect of playing in the Premier League doesn't appeal to him yet and that he wanted to stay in the Serie A.

United's interest, as of now, seems very nascent - but if it were to materialise into something more serious, it seems like they would have to do some convincing to make sure the player changes his mind.

Some of the other left-footed centre-backs United have been reliably linked with are Villarreal's Pau Torres, Sporting Braga's David Carmo, Ajax's Lisandro Martinez and more recently, Joško Gvardiol of RB Leipzig.