Manchester United are facing disappointment in their efforts to sign Ivan Perisic for a knockdown fee with Inter Milan confident of narrowly avoiding Uefa financial sanctions without having to sell the Croatia forward.

Inter have until the end of Friday to break even for the financial year ending June 30 by raising a total of €30 million (£26.4 million) through player sales or face a €7 million fine for breaching Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

United had hoped to take advantage of Inter’s financial predicament by signing Perisic for around half the Italian club’s initial €60 million valuation, with an opening bid of €30 million followed by a second offer of €32 million (£28.1 million) about a fortnight ago.

Inter are understood to have been irked by the size of those bids and informed United that they would not accept less than €50 million (£44 million) - a price the Manchester club have steadfastly refused to meet - and that Perisic would be off the market by the weekend.

But while Inter would prefer to incur a fine than sell Perisic for a fee drastically below their asking price, they are optimistic about raising enough money through other eleventh hour sales to pacify Uefa.