• Chile striker targeted after Inter miss out on Edin Dzeko • Ole Gunnar Solskjær had said he expected Sánchez to stay

Internazionale are hoping to sign Alexis Sánchez on a season-long loan and are confident of agreeing a deal with Manchester United.

The striker turned down a move to Roma last week, with United reported to have offered to cover a large proportion of his £300,000-a-week wages. Yet having already signed Romelu Lukaku for £74m, the Inter manager, Antonio Conte, has turned his attention to the 30-year-old after missing out on Edin Dzeko, who has signed a new three-year contract with Roma amid speculation he could move to San Siro.

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Fernando Llorente – currently without a club having left Tottenham at the end of last season – is understood to be another option for the Italians.

Sánchez was left out of United’s squad for the opening-day victory over Chelsea, although Ole Gunnar Solskjær said on Friday that the former Arsenal forward was still not ready after playing for his country at the Copa América.

“Alexis is such a professional and he comes in working every single day really hard and he wants to be a part of this,” the United manager said. “There are these stories he’s been put in the reserves – of course he hasn’t, he’s part of our squad and he is a really good player. He has had three weeks now, so he’s a few weeks behind the rest but close to being part of it.

“We don’t have the biggest forward line in numbers so Alexis might end up playing a lot more games than you expect and we expect him to come good at this club; he’s quality.”