Darmian’s Exit Leaves Inter Eyeing Perisic as Low-Cost Wing-Back Fix | OneFootball

Inter Milan are weighing a return for 37-year-old Ivan Perisic as a concrete lateral option, with the Nerazzurri’s summer wing-back search having stalled on every alternative target for either technical or economic reasons.

According to Niccolò Righi writing for Tuttomercatoweb, the club has momentarily stepped back from the active external search to focus on negotiations with Tottenham over Cristian Romero, but Perisic’s name has remained live in internal discussions as the one profile that ticks the cost box.

Djed Spence during a match for Tottenham Hotspur.

The Corriere dello Sport framing cited in the piece is blunt: none of the profiles examined so far offer the right balance between technical quality and economic sustainability. For Palestra, Inter were prepared to go to €50 million, rating him as reliable and with room to grow. Khalaili was viewed as a calculated risk at a lower cost. Neither deal got done.

Spence, Douè, Molina – All Fall Short

Interest in Djed Spence has cooled because the Englishman offers physicality and intensity but lacks the one-versus-one qualities that attracted Inter to Palestra and Khalaili – and Tottenham’s €40 million asking price was deemed excessive by Marotta and Ausilio. Douè, Molina, Read and Belghali were also assessed and set aside on technical or financial grounds.

That leaves the Perisic hypothesis. The Croatian’s appeal is simple: he requires minimal adaptation, knows the environment inside out, and both his transfer fee and wage demands would be contained. The plan, as Tuttomercatoweb outlines it, would see any Perisic return function in tandem with the development of Diouf and Luis Henrique on the right flank – experienced cover rather than a long-term starter.

Ivan Perisic celebrates while playing for Inter Milan.

At 37 the project ceiling is obvious, but Inter’s priority right now is closing the flank gap left by Matteo Darmian‘s departure without overextending financially. If no better option materialises before the window closes, Perisic represents the path of least resistance.