Sofyan Amrabat will not play for Fiorentina against Rapid Vienna in the Conference League and is training alone amid transfer interest from Manchester United.
The Moroccan midfielder has been heavily linked with a move away from Fiorentina throughout the summer transfer window and has not travelled with the squad to Austria.
90min recently revealed that United had agreed personal terms with Amrabat, and provisionally settled on a fee in the region of £29m with his current club.
But a move is yet to materialise as United want to try and move on Donny van de Beek before beinging in Amrabat – the Red Devils are in talks with Real Sociedad over Van de Beek but are struggling to agree terms.
The wait has left Amrabat in a state of limbo, with the 27-year-old’s head turned by the prospect of playing at a higher level, and he is left out of Fiorentina’s first game of the new Serie A season – a 4-1 win over Genoa.
“Amrabat will work separately, he remained in Florence and in these two days he will follow his own programme,” manager Vincenzo Italiano subsequently told the press of Amrabat being left behind as Fiorentina flew out to face Rapid Vienna.
Fiorentina’s chief executive, Joe Barone, has seemingly given the green light for Amrabat to leave the club, telling DAZN (via Labaro Viola) that “unhappy” players are free to go: “We are always ready for other entries and exits,” he said. “If there’s someone who isn’t happy, we can satisfy him between now and the end of the transfer window.”
90min understands that Fiorentina have given Amrabat and United a deadline of Monday 28 August in order to finalise a move to Old Trafford, but with Van de Beek still likely to be on the books at that point, it’s unlikely that will happen.
Atletico Madrid have also been chasing Amrabat all summer long, while United’s great rivals, Liverpool, have also shown interest as they bid to overhaul a midfield that has been depleted by the exits of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Naby Keita among others.