Manchester United are on the cusp of letting Chris Smalling re-join Roma on a permanent deal after a breakthrough in talks on Wednesday night.
The Italian giants have been keen to sign the centre back all summer but have been at loggerheads with United over the latter's £20million asking price.
As reported by Sportsmail earlier on Wednesday, Roma were only prepared to pay £13.5m for the defender - an offer considerably lower than the Red Devils' valuation.
However, according to the Athletic they have now returned with a bid more suitable to United's minimum fee requirement of above £18m and closer to their £20m demands.