Inter Milan sporting director Walter Sabatini has denied suggestions that the club could offload the services of Joao Mario during the winter transfer window. The Portugal international is of interest to both Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain with the former looking to sign in a potential swap deal involving Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Speaking on Sky Sport Italia, Sabatini talked about the importance of Mario in the Nerazzurri setup, and he is confident that manager Luciano Spalletti will resolve the player's situation at San Siro, he said: "As with all those who have to earn their place at the World Cup, Joao has some issues with the lack of playing time. We don’t want to lose him, so he and Luciano Spalletti will find common ground and they’ll work out what to do. He is our player and we want to keep him."

The Nerazzurri are currently on a tight budget with the Financial Fair Play rules on their head, but Sabatini still has plans to bring in fresh recruits with talks already underway to sign Brazilian duo Ramires and Alex Teixeira on short-term loan deals from sister club Jiangsu Suning, he added: "We are in sync with the coach on the intention of making a few adjustments in January. We are evaluating the situations for Ramires and Alex Teixeira; it is all yet to be defined."

Inter Milan dropped off in the final weeks prior to Christmas with back-to-back defeats, but they are still just within the title race with just five points separating them from leaders Napoli. The likes of Ivan Perisic and Mauro Icardi have been the prime contributors upfront to the club's success, and keeping the frontmen at San Siro could be key to ending their title wait. Inter face-off against arch-rivals AC Milan in the quarter-final of the Coppa Italia this weekend.