Torino president rules out Belotti sale unless €100M buyout clause triggered

Manchester United's reported plan B won't come cheap.

After seemingly missing out on Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann, the Premier League side is believed to have shifted its focus to one of Italy's brightest young stars, Andrea Belotti.

However, teams interested in Belotti will have to pay a hefty price in order to convince Torino to sell the 23-year-old forward.

Club president Urbano Cairo has no interest in losing Belotti, but admitted that he would be tempted if a team triggers the Italy international's €100-million buyout clause.

"I'm not thinking about selling Belotti," Cairo said in an interview with Gazetta dello Sport, according to Rob Dawson of ESPNFC. Belotti is my player, we only renewed his contract recently. Our objective is to keep him.

"After that, there is a release clause that would make me obliged to sell him, providing someone came in with €100 million from abroad.

"Let's see. I haven't talked to him yet because he is currently with the national team. We will see how things go, but our intention would be to keep him."

Along with the gargantuan price tag, the window of opportunity to lure Belotti is another obstacle facing United and other interested clubs, such as Milan, who has reportedly expressed an interest.

Torino sporting director Gianluca Petrachi suggested that interested parties submit offers before it's too late

"On paper, Torino do not want to sell Belotti, but you all know how the market works.

"If a club were to come to us with a big offer, we would have to consider it. Either the big clubs come now or they don't come at all.

"It's unlikely that a big club is willing to spend €100 million in August. If Milan want him, they have to pay a big price for him and, to this day, no big offers from Milan have arrived."

Belotti was among Italy's top scorers last term after finding the back of the net 26 times - a mark that more than doubled the 12 goals he scored a season prior.