Lazio Reach Agreement With Man Utd Over Andreas Pereira Loan
By Tom Gott
Lazio have reached an agreement to sign Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira on loan for the remainder of the 2020/21 season.
The 24-year-old has long been moving towards the exit door at Old Trafford and has not featured in a single game so far this season, with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer keen to clear out some of his side's fringe players.
The hope was that Pereira would be sold to raise some extra transfer funds, but according to Sky Sport Italia, United have agreed to send the Brazilian on loan to Lazio, who will have the option to sign Pereira permanently for €15m (£13.6m) next summer.
Manager Simone Inzaghi is believed to see Pereira as the ideal man to bolster his midfield and he is urging Lazio to get this deal done, but the problem is that the Italian side are yet to reach an agreement with Pereira over personal terms.
There is said to be some real distance between Lazio's proposal and what Pereira would hope to take home, and as it stands, Lazio don't have the money to make a better offer.
Their focus has now turned to selling striker Felipe Caicedo, who has attracted interest from a number of Serie A sides. If they can offload the Ecuador international, that would give them some more wiggle room in their negotiations with Pereira.
Pereira has managed 75 appearances in all competitions for United but has managed just four goals and five assists to date. Plenty of fans have grown frustrated with his lack of impact, and it appears as though Solskjaer feels the same.
The boss dropped Pereira from the matchday squad for United's final three games of last season and he is yet to feature this year, with new signing Donny van de Beek taking his spot in the team.
Pereira may not be the only player leaving United between now and the end of the window, with doubts remaining over the likes of Juan Mata, Sergio Romero, Jesse Lingard, Diogo Dalot and plenty of others.
