Ivan Perisic hopes to be omitted from Inter Milan’s tour party as Manchester United scramble to wrap up a £44 million deal for the unsettled Croatia winger before the Italian club fly to China on Tuesday afternoon.

Inter’s squad are due to report at the club’s Appiano Gentile training base on Tuesday morning ahead of a mid-afternoon flight from Milan’s Malpensa airport to Nanjing for the start of their pre-season tour of China.

Perisic was due back in Milan on Monday after returning to Croatia for treatment on a tooth abscess that had forced him to leave Inter’s pre-season training camp in Riscone di Brunico a day early last week. But he hopes to be excused from Tuesday's flight in order to join United’s tour of the US and undergo a medical there.

United are expected to pay an initial £39.5 million for Perisic with the fee rising to £44 million with add-ons. Inter are close to signing Senegal forward Keita Balde from Lazio as a replacement for Perisic, who cut a glum, detached figure on a picture with Inter’s squad last week as he pushes hard to secure a transfer to Old Trafford.

Perisic posted and subsequently deleted a message on Instagram on Monday with a praying emoji next to a plane taking off, a thinly veiled reference to his hopes of skipping Inter’s flight to China. Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, is still in London as he oversees negotiations. United were due to play Real Salt Lake in the early hours of Tuesday and face Manchester City in Houston on Friday.