Inter Milan are in hot pursuit of Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele and could offer Joao Mario in part-exchange to sweeten the deal, according to Corriere Dello Sport.
The Italian newspaper claim Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio is hot on the heels of Dembele and will scout him during Belgium’s friendly clash against Egypt on Wednesday night.
Corriere Dello Sport report Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has slapped a £26.3million asking price on the 30-year-old and one way round the deal for the Serie A club would be to offer their own midfielder Mario, who spent the second half of 2017-18 on loan at West Ham.
OPINION
Inter have made Dembele a priority signing, but do they have the cash to meet the valuation of Levy? It appears that they are a long way from being able to pay the full asking for the Belgian, who turns 31 this summer and has just a year remaining on his contract. One way around the deal is offering a part-exchange or swap, and Mario is seen as a possible solution by Inter. The midfielder, who was used in an attacking midfield role by the Hammers with some success last season, has made it clear he is keen to quit Serie A and his first choice would be to move permanently to the Premier League. It would certainly be a turn-up for the books if that was at a London club other than West Ham. Dembele is a brilliant player who showed in the recent domestic season that he could still walk into any side in the Premier League. But the demands of the English top flight are starting to become too much and he wants to leave on a high. It would be intriguing if a Hammer helped the deal happen.
