Could Chelsea get Lukaku revenge by scuppering Manchester United’s move for Ivan Perisic?

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In one of the transfer sagas of the summer, Manchester United swooped in to complete a deal for Romelu Lukaku when it looked like Chelsea were set to sign the Belgian. Now, the Blues could get revenge as Calciomercato say that their move for Inter Milan winger Antonio Candreva would mean that the San Siro club would reject any approach for United target Ivan Perisic.

The Italian outlet believe that a bid of €20 million (£17.9 million) could be enough to persuade Luciano Spalletti part ways with the 30-year-old, who they signed only last summer from Lazio. As such, with a winger down and €20 million in the bank, Inter would be under no obligation to sell Perisic.

United’s chase of the winger has been ongoing all summer, although Spalletti has claimed, as reported by FourFourTwo, that talks stopped some time ago with the Red Devils yet to reignite their interest in the Croatian. The reasoning behind that is unclear, as Perisic is still thought to be one of their top targets.

Candreva is also an understandable target for Antonio Conte. Not only would he jeopardise United’s hopes of signing one of their top targets, but Chelsea would be bringing in a player who could figure as a winger or even as a wing-back who Conte has previously worked with and knows what to expect.

The Italians tendency to hug the touchline is more suited to the kind of Victor Moses or Marcos Alonso wing-back role, rather than the forward roles occupied by Pedro and Eden Hazard, who like to cut inside.

Both are roles which Chelsea are looking to bolster before the season kicks off in just under two weeks, and getting one over on Manchester United in the process would be sweet for Antonio Conte and Roman Abramovich. If relations between the two clubs are tense, expect them to get even more difficult if Chelsea do succeed in signing Candreva.