As Juventus join Manchester City, Tottenham and PSG in approaching Alessandro Bastoni, the Inter defender’s agent warns ‘it takes two to reach an agreement on a contract.’
The centre-back is only tied to the Nerazzurri until June 2024 and negotiations to pen a new deal have hit problems, with Tuttosport suggesting there is a significant gap between demand and offer.
Bastoni is certainly not short of options, as Juventus are the latest to track him after Manchester City, Spurs and Paris Saint-Germain.
Speaking to TMW Radio in more general terms about contracts, Bastoni’s agent Tullio Tinti still sent a pointed message to the clubs.
“I have never pushed a player to run down his contract and become a free agent, it was the clubs who did that,” said Tinti.
“Clearly, it takes two to reach an agreement on a contract. When a player has only a year left on his deal and can legitimately say he wants to wait, it gets all the headlines. When a club leaves a player waiting until the last minute, that is considered normal.
“At times, a player doesn’t sign because he was made to wait too long or because the club was not interested in giving him a new contract. When people behave in a fair manner, I don’t think it becomes a problem.”
Inter have rather a poor recent history with these situations, losing Ivan Perisic as a free agent to Tottenham when letting his contract run down and repeatedly delaying meetings, then Milan Skriniar’s representative complained of the same treatment.
It would be devastating financially for Inter to lose Bastoni as well, especially considering the 23-year-old has a price-tag of at least €50-60m.