Manchester United transfer target Andrea Belotti will only be sold for €100m, says Torino president
As The Independent revealed on Friday, United are hopeful of signing Belotti and Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata this summer
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United will have to meet Andrea Belotti’s €100m release clause in order to sign the Torino striker, according to the Italian club’s president.
As The Independent revealed on Friday, United are hopeful of signing Belotti and Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata as Jose Mourinho attempts to completely revamp his forward line.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney are both expected to depart from Old Trafford this summer and leave two vacancies up front, paving the way for the arrivals of Belotti and Morata.
However, Torino president Urbano Cairo is not willing to let the former leave without a fight and, for the moment, insists that he is “keeping hold of him”.
“I care about Belotti and I'm keeping hold of him,” Cairo told Radio 24. “He has a contract with Torino until 2021. I would only sell him for €100m, but even then he can refuse.
“The most important thing is what he wants, regardless of the release clause, and I believe he wants to stay. We are trying to build the best possible team at Torino.”
Despite Cairo's insistence that Torino will hold out for Belotti's release clause to be met, the Old Trafford hierarchy believe that the Serie A club could be persuaded to accept lower amount.
United are also hopeful of concluding deals for Monaco's Fabinho and Internazionale's Ivan Perisic.
On Saturday, the club confirmed that they have already reached an agreement with Benfica to sign defender Victor Lindelof, with the fee understood to be in the region of €35m.
Belotti, who is currently on international duty with Italy, scored in his national team’s 5-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Liechtenstein on Sunday.
The 23-year-old’s 52nd minute strike was his fourth goal in nine appearances for the Azzurri.
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