Chelsea and Manchester United are ready to enter a transfer tug-of-war to secure the services of Inter star Denzel Dumfries. As per Gazzetta dello Sport, both Premier League sides have identified the Dutch right-back as a concrete target.
Following a troublesome first half of the 2021/22 season, Dumfries found his feet from December 2021 onwards. Simone Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 set-up helped the Dutchman thrive at Giuseppe Meazza. He recorded five goals and five assists in Serie A last season, making Inter fans forget about Achraf Hakimi.
But last season’s Serie A runners-up may soon have to find another right-back to replace Dumfries. Inter have already snapped up Raoul Bellanova from Cagliari this summer as part of their effort to make Dumfries’ inevitable departure go as smoothly as possible.
Strapped for cash, Inter will have to raise funds from player sales to aid Inzaghi’s bid to strengthen his roster further. Romelu Lukaku, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Kristjan Asllani have joined the club this summer.
If Inter are to maintain their recruitment campaign, someone has to go. That someone could be Dumfries, who has attracted interest from Chelsea and Man Utd. Both Premier League sides are keen on reinforcing their respective backlines, especially the latter.
New United boss Erik ten Hag has already put out-of-sorts right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka up for sale. Should the Red Devils offload the ex-Crystal Palace man, they will lodge a significant bid to take Dumfries away from Inter.
However, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is equally eager to sign the 26-year-old. Reece James has been nothing short of outstanding since establishing himself as a regular starter at Stamford Bridge. His versatility, though, has made Tuchel switch him over to a more central role at the back.
Any interested party will have to earmark around €40m to convince Inter to sanction a deal. Such a figure would secure the Nerazzurri a substantial profit as they paid PSV Eindhoven only €12.5m to bring him to Serie A only last summer.