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Perisic admits ‘dream’ Manchester United transfer was ‘very close’

Ivan Perisic admits he was ‘very close’ to sealing a ‘dream’ move to Manchester United under former boss Jose Mourinho.

The Croatia international was strongly linked with a move from Inter Milan in the summers of 2017 and 2018 during Mourinho’s spell in charge of Manchester United, and the 30-year-old has now revealed how close he came to moving to Old Trafford.

Perisic would remain at Inter due to the Italian’s refusal to do a deal, before he joined Bayern Munich on a season-long deal this summer, though the winger has now revealed it could have been different following advanced talks over a move to the Premier League.

“How close was I going there? Very close,” he told The Athletic.

“It was an amazing thing for me when Jose called me. It was difficult to say no to him.

“In fact, I really, really wanted to join him and play for United. It was a dream of mine to play in all the big leagues. But it didn’t happen.

“It was painful for me. But I don’t want to go into the details. I only found out myself the real reasons two years later.”

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Bayern MunichInter MilanIvan PerisicManchester United