Real Madrid have not given up on Alessandro Bastoni, but Inter will only entertain a sale at a price they consider irresistible.
According to AS, via CalcioMercato, José Mourinho wants another high-calibre centre-back despite an already busy summer at the Bernabeu, where Ibrahima Konaté, Marc Cucurella and Denzel Dumfries, the latter prised from Inter, have all arrived.
The Portuguese is overseeing a wholesale defensive rebuild, and the Spanish daily reports that Bastoni remains the profile he covets most.
Madrid return to Bastoni after Schlotterbeck stalls
Madrid had lined up Nico Schlotterbeck as their final defensive addition, but once that move hit the buffers they circled back to Bastoni, a name that surfaced early in the window during Inter’s difficult end to last season, before the situation appeared to settle.
Now, AS says, the Italy international is firmly back among Mourinho’s candidates.
Inter, however, have no intention of letting him go. Just as they did in shutting down Barcelona’s earlier approach, the Nerazzurri will not sit down to negotiate for the defender for anything less than a valuation of €70m.
Whether Madrid are willing to meet that figure, having already spent heavily, is the question that will decide the pursuit.
