Berlin (AFP)

Bayern Munich confirmed on Tuesday the transfer of 30-year-old Croatian striker Inter Milan Ivan Perisic on the basis of a one-year loan with a call option.

The transaction, according to the German press, amounts to 5 million euros for the loan, and Bayern will then have the opportunity to buy the vice-world champion for 20 million euros.

The German champion club is still looking to strengthen his attack after the departures of Ribéry and Robben (end of contract) and James (back to Real).

"Ivan will immediately bring his long experience to the top international level," said Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidzic. "He is very technical and versatile in attack and I am sure he will fit in quickly because he knows the Bundesliga and also our coach Niko Kovac".

The Croatian, who played in Dortmund and then Wolfsburg between 2011 and 2015, won the Bundesliga with Borussia in 2012, and the German Cup once with both clubs. He will find especially his compatriot Niko Kovac, he had rubbed shoulders when he was still coach of Croatia between 2013 and 2015.

"I am very happy to return to Germany (...) We want to succeed not only in the Bundesliga and cup, but also in the Champions League," said the new recruit, quoted by the club's website.

Milanese player since 2015, Perisic was under contract until 2022 with the Italians, but did not fit in the plans of the new coach Antonio Conte.

Author of a goal in the final of the World Cup in 2018 against France, the thirties will support the current pair of wingers Kingsley Coman (23 years) and Serge Gnabry (24 years). It could in theory be aligned Friday against Hertha Berlin for the opening match of the championship.

His recruitment, however, resembles a Plan B for the Bavarians, who have long courted the German international Manchester City Leroy Sané. The Sané track is not totally abandoned, but the 23-year-old striker is injured on the right knee and unavailable for several months.

© 2019 AFP