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Inter Milan CEO Giuseppe Marotta has hinted transfer business with Arsenal and Man Utd may yet happen this summer after a strong declaration about his own squad.

Inter were understood to be in desperate need of balancing their books after the financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. Achraf Hakimi was one casualty of the club’s predicament. The Moroccan sealed a deal worth an initial €60m before add-ons to join PSG earlier in July.

That has seemingly done the trick for the club’s financial department after Marotta’s recent statement about their upcoming transfer plans.

Speaking to Sky Sport Italia (via Fabrizio Romano) the Inter chief said: “We’re now planning to keep our best players after selling Hakimi.”

That will likely spell the end of speculation surrounding the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Romelu Lukaku and Nicolo Barella.

However, with Hakimi now in Paris, the club are in desperate need of a new full-back and Marotta has his eyes fixed on options from Arsenal and Man Utd.

“Hector Bellerin is a player we’re following… but I can’t say more,” said Marotta.

“Alex Telles? I can’t exclude this possibility but we’re making our plans and we’ll see.”

Bellerin appears destined to depart the Emirates this summer. The Spaniard had been tipped to experience a fresh challenge elsewhere before the speculation ramped up last week when a report claimed he demanded to leave at the club’s headquarters.

Bellerin would be a like-for-like replacement for Hakimi and Arsenal are understood to be open to a deal – pending one condition.

Telles, meanwhile, has been the subject of links with Jose Mourinho’s Roma. They are in need of a new left-back after Leonardo Spinazzola suffered a serious achilles injury at Euro 2020.

For their part, however, Man Utd are believed to be unwilling to sanction a loan deal.

A permanent exit may twist their arm with Luke Shaw now unmoveable in the first eleven. Though it would still seem far more likely Inter would move for Bellerin instead.

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Tottenham transfer could give Arsenal move timely nudge

Meanwhile, an Arsenal transfer could be given an unlikely nudge in the right direction after Tottenham were revealed to pressing for a move involving the same club, per a report.

Collaboration between the North London rivals is few and far between. However, per the latest from the Italian media, that is exactly what could unfold. The development stems from their shared interest in doing business with Roma.

Arsenal are understood to be seeking a fee of around €20m (£17.15m) from Roma for Granit Xhaka That has thus far proved too costly for Jose Mourinho’s side despite an Italian source claiming a compromise had been made.

With the saga dragging on, the only way Roma would budge will seemingly come from an injection of funds. And per Sport Witness (citing Gazzetta Dello Sport), Tottenham could be the club to provide the cash injection. They state that Spurs are ‘pressing’ for a deal to sign midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini.

Pellegrini ‘has a €30m release clause in his current contract’. Triggering it could indirectly help Arsenal secure the fee they desire for Xhaka.

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