It seems that Tottenham Hotspur’s links with centre-backs, particularly those plying their trade in Serie A, will not subside any time soon – and no, I’m not referring to Alessandro Bastoni (although you can read about the latest incarnation of those links here), but rather his Inter Milan teammate, the soon to be free agent and Slovakian international Milan Skriniar.
Indeed, Graeme Bailey of TeamTalk, who fancies himself as a sort of investigative reporter (which is fair enough I suppose, his reporting in recent years has been somewhat respectable), has today detailed an “exclusive” (a term that is thrown about like confetti) that a long list of clubs have emerged at the door of Milan Skriniar and his entourage due to the knowledge that his current contract with Inter expires in the summer.
This list of sides looking to land the 27-year-old on a pre-contract offer reportedly includes us, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, PSG, Newcastle United and Chelsea – i.e., everyone with a bit of common sense, as they don’t come better as far as free agents go, a sentiment that Mr Bailey vehemently shares as per his quotes vis TeamTalk:
“Milan Skriniar is genuinely one of the best free agents who could ever become available, he would be right up there with someone like Antonio Rudiger.
“Most clubs who are now showing an interest did not believe that he would be leaving Inter, but their attempts to tie him to a new contract have thus far not proven successful.”
However, Bailey also stated that Inter remained hopeful of tying down Skriniar to a new contract to fend off this frenzy of interest:
“Inter still believe that they will convince him to stay but he will very soon be able to field those pre-contract offers.
“Paris Saint-Germain were always and still are, but now all the Premier League top clubs are interested – the chance to land one of the world’s best defenders at 27, does not come along too often.
“So even someone like Manchester City, who don’t have a new centre-half at the top of their wanted list, are ready to put an offer to him. But so are Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham and Newcastle.”
Thanks for the insight Graeme, and Merry Christmas!