Lukaku has been absent from the pitch so far on United’s pre-season tour, with Conte desperate to take him to Inter

Antonio Conte struggled to hide his unhappiness with his superiors at Inter Milan yesterday as he spoke of his frustration at their failure to sign Romelu Lukaku from Manchester United.

The former Chelsea manager had wanted Lukaku to be an Inter player by now. He had hoped that the Belgium striker would be clear to play against United in their International Champions Cup match in Singapore this afternoon.

Instead, Lukaku remains on United’s books. Rather than training with Conte’s squad, Lukaku sat on the bench in his United training gear talking to club staff members yesterday as the other 29 members of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad trained in 32C in front of him.

A “niggle” had ruled Lukaku out of United’s first tour match against