Although the Bianconeri still hanker after adding left winger Jadon Sancho, a combination of his high salary demands and the club’s financial plight resulted in his switch to Turin being put on hold.
Sancho is one of four players at United who are not part of head coach Ruben Amorim’s plans, with the quartet training separately from the rest of the senior squad.
Antony, Alejandro Garnacho, Tyrell Malacia and Sancho may be forgotten men as far as tackling the Premier League, yet they each have a locker in the club’s refurbished training center in Carrington.
Antony and Garnacho are also on Juve’s radar, but the Turin titans cannot afford either player at the moment.
Sancho’s agent recently rejected the opportunity for the 25-year-old to be reunited with former United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Besiktas, and has landed in Italy to try and broker a Serie A deal.
Serie A beckons for United outcast
Four top Italian teams are showing serious interest in Sancho, who spent last season on loan at Chelsea but returned to United for their whirlwind US tour, while Napoli no longer seems a viable option.
AS Roma head coach Gian Piero Gasperini, Inter Milan boss Cristian Chivu, Juve’s chief Igor Tudor and Lazio manager Maurizio Sarri are all eager to bring Sancho to Serie A.
Juventus came close to landing England ace Sancho, but the cash-strapped Turin titans were unable to match United’s valuation and his steep salary demands that would have made him the highest-paid Serie A player has put off the club.
The Bianconeri are still stuck trying to offload players to raise funds, with the ongoing saga to sell high-earning duo Douglas Luiz and Dusan Vlahovic.
Juve did manage to send Timothy Weah on a season-long loan to Olympique Marseille, with a conditional obligation to buy, and have others that are for sale but yet to make a move such as Nicolas Gonzalez.
Cut-price bargain Sancho
Matthew Conning, a Manchester United intermediary, has arrived in Italy in a bid to seal a deal at a cut-price transfer fee. Sancho’s annual wage, which has been touted as high as €15 million (US$17.5m) is the stumbling block.
United are not as demanding about Sancho’s market price as they were last month, as the club collected €5.8m (US$6.7m) from Chelsea as a penalty clause after the Londoners rejected their obligation to buy the whizzy winger.
Roma have stepped up their interest, with United eager to rid themselves of the outcast to a Serie A side before the Premier League season kicks off this weekend.