Roma have made an offer to sign England winger Jadon Sancho from Manchester United, where he remains excluded from training with the first-team squad.
United sources have not revealed the size of the bid from the Serie A club, nor whether it has been accepted.
However, the offer in itself underlines that there is interest in the 25-year-old, who has been told to find a new club before the transfer window closes on 1 September.
Juventus, who unlike Roma have qualified for this season’s Champions League, are also known to be interested in Sancho.
The former Borussia Dortmund wide man returned to United in the summer after Chelsea paid a £5m penalty to get out of an obligation to buy him, having spent last season on loan at Stamford Bridge.
There have also been suggestions that Roma would be interested in a loan, containing clauses that could be triggered at the end of the season.
However, that issue is complicated by the fact that Sancho’s United contract expires next summer. The club does have an option to extend it by an additional year, although given Sancho’s salary, it is debatable whether they would be willing to do that.
United are determined to sell Sancho. However, the closer to September they get without a deal in place, the more likely they are to consider a potential loan move, given it would at least take a significant sum off their wage bill.
Four players – Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Tyrrell Malacia – have been training away from boss Ruben Amorim’s squad since the start of pre-season last month as the club believes they will have left before the window closes.