Perisic benched by Inter amid Arsenal transfer speculation

Ivan Perisic has been left on the bench for Inter’s Serie A encounter with Torino amid speculation linking the midfielder with a transfer to Arsenal.

Inter have reportedly rejected a loan offer made for the 29-year-old by the Gunners, whose boss Unai Emery has already confirmed he will only be able to sign players on a temporary basis in January.

But a potential move for Perisic may have edged closer, with Luciano Spalletti having left the Croatia international out of his starting XI for Sunday’s visit to Torino.

Perisic starred at Russia 2018 as Croatia made it to their first World Cup final, but his form for Inter has tailed off, with the former Wolfsburg star having netted just three goals across 25 appearances in all competitions so far this campaign.

| Ecco i nostri 11 per #TorinoInter #FORZAINTER pic.twitter.com/JDbdVJZUX1

— Inter (@Inter) January 27, 2019

Spalletti hinted in his pre-match news conference that a deal could be done, but Inter’s head coach told Sky Italia that the price must be right.

“It’s a player that has been talked about because everyone values him as much as we do, and if anyone wants to buy him they will need to pay him good money because we rate him a lot,” he said.