MANCHESTER UNITED are set to sign Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic.
United will fork out around £40million for the Croatia forward.
Perisic, 28, has agreed a £100,000-a-week deal to take him to the Premier League in what will be a busy summer at Old Trafford.
SunSport revealed in March that Jose Mourinho had flown to Zagreb to oversee the deal.
And United’s boss was ready to go ahead with the transfer once Wednesday’s Europa League triumph made sure of a Champions League place.
Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain were also keen on Perisic and the French giants were willing to do a swap deal involving former United player Angel Di Maria.
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But Perisic’s heart was set on United, with his head turned by the wages his new agents said they could negotiate for him at the Theatre of Dreams.
The former Wolfsburg star, who can play as a winger, a second striker or an attacking midfielder, was represented for many years by Tonci Martic.
But this season he signed with Lian Sports — run by Falli Ramadani, the partner of super-agent Pini Zahavi.
Mourinho also enlisted the help of old pal Predrag Mijatovic to grease the wheels of the Perisic deal.
Mijatovic, the former Real Madrid player and sporting director, is a Mr Fix-It for transfers involving players from the former Yugoslavia.
He worked with Mourinho on other deals, including Real signing Luka Modric from Tottenham in 2012 — when the Portuguese was Bernabeu boss — and Chelsea re-signing Nemanja Matic in 2014.
Meanwhile, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will snub offers from the USA and China.
But his agent is not sure if the Swedish striker, 35, will stay at United, despite his 28 goals this term.
Mino Raiola said: “Will he continue at United? I don’t know, we will talk soon to sort out the future.
“He will play for one more year, maybe two. There have been offers from clubs from many leagues but he will remain in Europe, 100 per cent.”
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